Perhaps the Clarence Thomas hearings are responsible for conditioning us to expect high drama when the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to hear from a Supreme Court nominee. Maybe the tales of Douglas Ginsburg and Robert Bork made the news media believe that at any given moment, a wrong word or revelation could suddenly derail a nominee’s confirmation.

But a Supreme Court nominee can no longer be instantly defined by a Kennedy accusing a nominee of secretly plotting the return of segregated lunch counters, and while there’s still a chance for some fireworks at the hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, no one really thinks she won’t be confirmed, barring a shocking scandal. This morning, outside the Hart Senate office building, there were a few signs of public interest in the hearings, but they were pretty meager for a pleasant-but-getting-warmer midsummer morning. A handful of pro-life protesters milled around one Senate office building entrance, carrying their usual posters of gruesome photos, one dressed as the grim reaper. Further down the block, the pro-Sotomayor forces gathered, probably a dozen or so, a little after 8 a.m. — a couple of circular NOW signs, a couple of hot pink and neon yellow signs. One placard read “Confirm Her Now!” which seems like an unreasonable request before the first day of hearings.

A dog stood near a pair of young women, and involuntarily strapped to the canine’s back was the sign “Huskies For Choice.” (No word on how that choice was expressed by the dog.)

One Capitol Police officer observed to another, “They’re not chanting or anything, they’re just standing there.”

She will be asked questions, and may or may not answer them satisfactorily. But almost everyone admits that they know how this story ends.