The Sotomayor hearings are over

They might as well be. I loved this amusing, but serious, pre-summary of the results:

Everything you need to know about Sonia Sotomayor's upcoming hearings. - By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine

... how it's possible that she has ruled in a handful of abortion cases over the years without ever addressing the rightness of abortion itself. She will reply that she is a careful minimalist who answers only the question before her. Both sides will grind their teeth in frustration at this marked absence of judicial activism ...

It's worth a quick read.

I'm persuaded. The appointment is a done deal, the hearings are political rituals the vast majority of us can happily ignore.