judge sonia sotomayor

NPR's Ken Rudin talks about President Obama's upcoming news conference on health care; a delayed vote on Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination; and Sarah Palin's fast-approaching final day as governor of Alaska.

Rudin is joined by Paul Mulshine, a columnist for The Star Ledger in Newark, N.J., and Tyler Whitley, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

As senators wrapped up their questioning of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor Thursday, she remained to the end — and by design — as ideologically elusive as those who came before her.

It's a script that partisan politics demands of court nominees.

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Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to wrap up her confirmation hearing testimony Thursday. We'll hear audio excerpts of highlights from the day's discussions, and talk with Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor of Slate.com, about Sotomayor's performance and why she argues that senators on both sides dropped the ball.

If she is sworn in, Judge Sonia Sotomayor will be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court. Since her nomination, a cultural debate has opened among many Latinos.

Author Gustavo Arellano and Latina Magazine editor-in-chief Mimi Valdes Ryan talk about what Sotomayor's nomination means for Hispanic identity in the U.S. and what this moment in American history means to them.

Ten senators must still take turns in the second round of questioning for Judge Sonia Sotomayor before the Senate Judiciary Committee turns to witnesses.

Among them: firefighter Frank Ricci, lead plaintiff in a reverse discrimination lawsuit oft-cited during the hearings.

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Minnesota's junior Sen. Al Franken stumped Judge Sonia Sotomayor at her Senate confirmation hearing. Both are fans of Perry Mason and Franken asked the Supreme Court nominee to name the only case Perry Mason lost.

She couldn't. Barbara Hale, who played Della Street in the long-running T-V show, talks about Perry Mason's loss.

If Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee intended to finish off Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor's critics by inducing boredom — and many privately suggested that was the point — consider the mission accomplished, or just about.

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In a full hour of NPR special coverage, Los Angeles Times Supreme Court reporter David Savage, Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree and George Mason University law professor Neomi Rao discuss the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

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When Judge Sonia Sotomayor returns to the hearing room Wednesday morning for her third day of Supreme Court confirmation hearings, she will try to reveal little more than she did in her first day of questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor listened to hours of senators' comments at her confirmation hearing Monday before giving her own opening statement.

Tuesday, senators begin asking questions.

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