But there's growing consensus among insiders that President Obama will likely pick someone else.
The first, and possibly most important, reason is the prevailing question among liberal advocates about whether Sotomayor has the judicial guts, smarts and toughness to go up against Antonin Scalia, the famously sharp conservative who anchors the right wing of today's court.
Sotomayor, 54 and with Puerto Rican roots, certainly has that common touch and real-world experience that tops Obama’s list of qualifications.
But so much early discussion about her nomination has revealed reservations on the left and the right about her judicial and intellectual heft, as well as her courtroom decorum.
Sotomayor supporters observe she was named to the federal district bench in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush, a Republican.
True, but she was picked by former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, under a previously struck deal, and the Bush administration was none too pleased with her.
No matter who he picks, the nation is in trouble.
I was particularly concerned that we might have got Kagan.
Sotomayor is older, diabetic and not nearly as bad ideologically as Kagan.
The GOP should just take this one. Kagan is Far Far worse.