Newest justices pitch curveballs from the left

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Sotomayor, Kagan shift Supreme Court debates to the left

The liberal wing is no longer drowned out by Scalia and his fellow conservatives during oral arguments.

December 26, 2010|By David G. Savage, Washington Bureau

Reporting from Washington — For most of the last two decades, Supreme Court conservatives led by Justice Antonin Scalia dominated the debates during oral arguments. They greeted advocates for liberal causes with sharp and sometimes caustic questions, putting them on the defensive from the opening minute.

But the tenor of the debate has changed in recent months, now that President Obama's two appointees to the court, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, have joined the fray and reenergized the liberal wing.

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