A majority of right-leaning bloggers (as well as virtually all the left-leaning) agree with me in predicting (at least on current evidence) that the Sonia Sotomayor nomination will prove more politically helpful to the Democrats than to the Republicans. The poll, also picked up in National Journal’s Ninth Justice column, quotes me as saying, “Her actual rulings don’t bear out the ‘scary radical’ meme. That Senate Dems were equally unfair to Miguel Estrada will, along with $3.26, buy you a latte at Starbucks.”

Relatedly, I can’t vouch for the methodology, which is not one that would have occurred to me, but this analysis by Corey Yung of five federal appellate circuits, based on an attempt to quantify what is meant by “activist” behavior in judges, tends to back up my sense that among judges with a liberal reputation, Obama could have found many who have shown a more adventurous disregard for precedent, less deference to other constitutional actors, etc. More: Marcia Coyle, National Law Journal.

Filed under: Sonia Sotomayor