Legal Beat

After analyzing some of Sonia Sotomayor's opinions as an appellate judge, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service has issued a report concluding that she is a cautious judge who is reluctant to rule too broadly in particular cases.

The report might blunt some of the GOP criticism of Sotomayor as potentially too much of an ideological activist to serve on the Supreme Court.

"Overall, Judge Sotomayor's opinions defy easy categorization along ideological lines," a pair of CRS attorneys wrote last week. They said "perhaps the most consistent characteristic of Judge Sotomayor's approach as an appellate judge could be described as an adherence to...the upholding of past judicial precedents." Also, Sotomayor's opinions "display her apparent dislike for the situations in which the court oversteps the role called for by the procedural posture of a case."

Don't be surprised if you hear Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee quote some of those lines during the next several weeks.