Grassley: Jury still out on his Sotomayor vote

Sonia Sotomayor has done nothing during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings this week to harm her chances of winning confirmation as a Supreme Court justice, Sen. Chuck Grassley said this morning.

Then again, the Iowa Republican who sits on the Judiciary Committee doubted her confirmation was ever in danger.

"There are 60 Democrats," Grassley said, "so what're the chances of her not being approved?"

For Grassley, the jury is still out on which way he will vote.

While he doesn't question her fitness to be a Supreme Court justice, Grassley said Sotomayor, so far, has not satisfactorily answered questions about whether she would legislate from the bench.

"That's my job so you can vote me out of office if you don't like it," Grassley said.

Sotomayor is doing a good job of overcoming her greatest weakness, which is not necessarily the cases she had decided, Grassley said, "but more the speeches and writing she's done. The white/Latina thing is one example." He was referring to her comment that a wise Latina woman would reach a better decision than a white male.

"She said a lot of things that raised questions about that," he said. "She's doing a pretty good job of covering that. The question is whether this is a death bed conversion or she's sincere and this is the way she's always been."

He's been less than satisfied with some of the nominee's answers, saying that she has avoided giving straight answers to yes-or-no questions.

Referring to a question about whether a person has a right to defend themselves from an intruder in their home, Grassley said Sotomayor responded with five minutes of "gobbledy-gook."

Grassley insisted he hasn't decided which way he will vote. He expects to ask his second round question later today and hopes he has the opportunity to ask more. He wants to hear all of Sotomayor's answers before making a decision.

"What's the point of the hearing if we know how we're going to vote?" he said.