Here’s a statement just issued by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), who wants to use the review process to ensure that Sotomayor “has the right intellect” to take the bench.

The American judicial system is a towering example of freedom and liberty to the world.  Throughout the confirmation process, I will work with my colleagues and thoroughly review Judge Sotomayor’s record to make sure she has the right intellect and understands the proper role of a judge — to interpret and apply the written law, not to decide cases based on personal feelings, politics or preferences.  The confirmation process is just that — a process.  We should not prejudge this nominee, but we should be diligent as we examine the nominee’s record, background and experience.

After eight years of George W. Bush — the most famous C-student ever to emerge from the Ivy League — it’s unclear why Republicans would be chasing this idea that the smarts of a self-made judge and summa-cum-laude graduate of Princeton University would somehow make her a bad fit for the position.

As I wrote earlier, Sotomayor — who was originally nominated by the first President Bush for the district court, then elevated by President Clinton to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York — has been pilloried by right-wing critics of the Obama administration who have been eager to portray his first Supreme Court pick as unqualified ideological leftist. Drawing largely on a twisted reading of her role in a controversial reverse-discrimination decision — and on anonymous comments cited in a much-criticized piece in The New Republic by Jeffrey Rosen — conservative critics sought to torpedo the nomination of Sotomayor early on.  As a highly accomplished Hispanic woman who rose from inner-city poverty to a seat on one of the most prestigious courts in the country, Sotomayor was an obvious choice for President Obama’s first Supreme Court nominee.

Although I speculated just yesterday that perhaps Obama would lean toward Solicitor General Elena Kagan based on her previous statements suggesting she’d endorse an expansive view of executive power, it seems that he has wisely chosen not to choose the next justice based on self-interest. If the news reports this morning are correct, we’ll hear the president announce why he chose Sotomayor very soon.