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Jeffrey Rosen defends his attack on Sonia Sotomayor.

As you may recall, on Monday, Rosen quoted unnamed former clerks to make what the headline called "The Case Against Sotomayor." The "case" seemed to be mainly that she wasn't smart enough. Rosen got slammed. Finally, today, he responds:

I've just returned from London to find that my piece on Sonia Sotomayor has provoked an energetic response in the blogosphere.

Everyone knows there's no way you can check the internet in London, and anyway, why would you even think to look when, after all, you only just threw a huge stinkbomb?

Many people have mischaracterized my argument, and I can understand why. The headline--"The Case Against Sotomayor"--promised something much stronger than I intended to deliver...

Blame the headline writers. Yes, they do have a tendency to state bluntly the things you swathed in verbiage.

Readers have asked for more information about my sources....

Rosen assures us his sources are trustworthy and must remain anonymous.

I was satisfied that my sources's concerns were widely shared when I read Sotomayor's entry in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, which includes the rating of judges based on the collective opinions of the lawyers who work with them....

Yeah, the evaluations are bad ? not on the point that she's not smart enough, but that she lacks "judicial temperament."

Some readers have also questioned my confession at the end of the piece that I hadn't read enough of her opinions to make a fully confident judgment.

Now, he's read some more opinions. He stands by his original opinion, which, he notes, accords with that Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.

Rosen concludes:

[I wanted] to encourage the White House to weigh considerations of temperament against the many other factors they'll be considering.

Ah, he's shifted to the temperament argument. He really didn't defend the "not smart enough" position.

For the next Supreme Court seat, the president needs to be sure that the nominee's temperament and abilities are not merely impressive but absolutely stellar. She--and the next justice should indeed be a she--must be ready to challenge the conservatives and persuade her fellow liberals from the very beginning.

Must be a woman. (I agree.) Must be a woman who can interact well with the Justices already on the Court. Fine... boilerplate. But read as a whole, this new Rosen piece ? put bluntly, in the manner of a headline writer ? is saying that Sonia Sotomayor would be a terrible choice for the Supreme Court.

Full post as published by Althouse on May 08, 2009 (boomark / email).