The questioning of Sonia Sotomayor begins. Chairman Patrick Leahy starts by citing some of her cases from her earlier carer and asks how her prosecutorial experience shaped her as a judge. He mentions the prosecution of “the Tarzan burglar.”

“Each case gets decided case by case, as the law exists, based on the facts.” She says the Tarzan burglar case taught her about “the tragic consequences of needless death.” He “used acrobatic feats to gain entry to apartments” and shot those who he encountered. “He destroyed families. That case taught me that prosecutors . . . must be sensitive to the costs that crime imposes on our entire society . . . I also had to consider that the presentation of that case would be fully understood by jurors.”

UPDATE: Sotomayor: “It’s important to remember that as a judge, I don’t make law.”