Here Come De Judge, Here Come De Judge

Has any woman polarized the political spectrum in recent memory quite like Judge Sonia Sotomayor... I mean, besides Sarah Palin? If media coverage of her nomination is any indicator, the woman that could be the first Latina justice on the U.S. Supreme Court means many things to many people. Either she's an all-American rags-to-riches story or an elitist who's lost touch of her upbringing. She's a champion of equal rights or she hates white folk, take your pick. Affirmative action seems to be her cause celebre, though her stance on more hot-button issues like abortion and torture is a bit more ambiguous. I see Sotomayor as a woman split between two worlds, and if the White House can avoid branding such a complex person in an overly simplified way, that court vacancy is hers.

Liberal reactionary or not, her ascension won't change the dynamic of the court, at least not in the short term. Sotomayor is a moderate-left judge replacing the equally left-of-center David Souter, and last time I checked the conservatives still have a 5-4 edge. Justice Stevens has been rumored to retire for years now, and he's also in the liberal minority. So why exactly are Republicans up in arms about Sotomayor? Is it just partisan posturing?

Other notes:

+ Last weekend I had my first class at Second City. I can't say much has happened so far; we introduced ourselves, went over the syllabus, than did some simple exercises. I'm in a class of about 18 students, ranging in age from 20 to 40, though it seems that we all have the same goal and we're keeping an open mind.

+ Two months into the fantasy season, and both of my teams are still middling. My TV.com team was in second place at one point and has since slipped to sixth out of eight. My "other" team (consisting mostly of old ISU classmates) was once one game out of first and is gradually slipping away. I can't blame this entirely on injuries, in spite of having Joey Votto, Joakim Soria, Eric Stults, and Grady Sizemore on my rosters, but erratic pitching has dogged me as of late.

+ To read my eulogy (kind of) for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, click here.

+ Finally, I suppose some of you would like me to share my thoughts on the murder of Dr. George Tiller earlier this week. His brutal death has reopened the wounds of the long-gestating abortion debate (pun not intended); while I tilt towards pro-choice, I'm convinced that the murderer acted on his own, unlike what some clusters of the media would suggest. While most of my pro-life friends and colleagues are vehement in their views, they would certainly never do anything that drastic. Dr. Tiller was both a martyr and a pariah, and that's how he should be best remembered.