Research Is For The Weak!

Suppose you are the legal affairs analyst for a respected national publication. You are charged with writing a piece about the presumed front-runner for a Supreme Court vacancy. What would you do, specifically, to get a sense of this potential nominee's viability and fitness?

Apparently, "research" is not the answer.

TNR's latest on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, entitled "The Case Against Sotomayor", contains this gem near the end:

I haven't read enough of Sotomayor's opinions to have a confident sense of them, nor have I talked to enough of Sotomayor's detractors and supporters, to get a fully balanced picture of her strengths.

I mean, why ever would you want that?