Many legal issues left out of hearings

WASHINGTON -- For the first time in more than a quarter-century of Supreme Court confirmation hearings, no one asked the nominee about the court's principal test for disputes over the separation of church and state. No one asked about an enduringly controversial decision that allows government to regulate campaign contributions.

In the end, Sonia Sotomayor's reference to TV's Perry Mason spurred more questions than her reference to Marbury v. Madison, the case that established the court's power of judicial review.

News reports last week emphasized how much Sotomayor did not tell. The equal reality is that senators did not ask. The 12 Democrats of the Senate Judiciary Committee appeared to have little interest in hard questions for President Obama's first nominee. The seven Republicans, who seemed to have no chance of derailing the 17-year veteran of the U.S. bench who would be the first Hispanic justice, focused more on Sotomayor's off-bench speeches than the substance of cases.

Sunday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and leading committee Republican Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., made clear that Sotomayor was headed toward confirmation, and they defended their approach in the hearings.

Sessions said it was fair to focus on her off-bench activities, which he deemed "troubling." He told CNN's John King that "people did not press her to answer … about future rulings (because) that would have been improper. … I think we can always learn and do better."

When King speculated that the White House urged Democratic senators not to push the nominee "because if the Democrats start pressing, it opens the door for Republicans to press," Leahy said, "No one in the White House suggested to me what questions I should ask, or I shouldn't ask. … Nobody had any restrictions on what to ask."

For decades, nominees have been reluctant to lay out their views, seeking to appear impartial for future cases and to avoid opposition from senators. The Sotomayor hearing was notable for a lack of meat from the nominee and her questioners.