White House: Sotomayor Does It Faster And Better

The White House today bragged that Judge Sonia Sotomayor completed her Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire in "record" time, besting by four the number of days it took for Chief Justice nominee John Roberts to turn his papers in. In a somewhat extraordinary blog post on the White House website, counsel Gregory Craig writes that Sotomayor's "historically fast completion" is "no small feat."  The idea is that the White House wants to speed up confirmation hearings; Republicans want to slow-walk them; Democrats want comity.

Craig's blog post also highlights several quotations from the speeches and documents that Sotomayor turned in. The first is a paragraph claiming fidelity to impartiality and the rule of law. To criticism that Sotomayor's writing ability is more workmanlike than Scalia-esque, Craig points to her "brilliance" and "commonsense" understanding of the law and her 17-year record.

Sotomayor's questionnaire will be available on the website of the Senate Judiciary Committee later today.