Pop quiz: Which Republican presidential candidate supported the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor? Hint: It’s the same one who endorsed a pro-abortion-rights presidential candidate in an earlier campaign. Give up? The answer is Rick Santorum. Santorum was rightly known as a conservative firebrand during his 12 years in the Senate, but the 1998 confirmation vote for Sonia Sotomayor to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was a notable exception, and so was his endorsement of Arlen Specter’s bid for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination