Legal Beat

Whether Supreme Court justices should act simply as umpires has been the most debated metaphor ever since Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. invoked it at his 2005 confirmation hearing.

Texas Republican John Cornyn tried a different sports metaphor during his opening statement as he made the point that as a Supreme Court justice, she would have more room to make law rather than interpret it than in her current job as an intermediate appellate judge.

"To borrow a football analogy, a lower court judge is like the quarterback who executes the plays - not the coach who calls the plays," Cornyn said. "That means many of your cases don't tell us much about your judicial philosophy. But a few of your opinions do raise questions - because they suggest the kinds of plays you'd call if you were promoted to the coaching staff. These opinions raise the question: would your steer the Court in the wrong direction - by limiting the rights that generations of Americans have regarded as fundamental?"