Franken, Klobuchar get ready for Sotomayor hearings

Al Franken had been a senator for just three days when he met Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court.

Franken spent Saturday morning prepping for what will be his fifth full day on the job, Monday, when the judiciary committee begins Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.

"I'm going to try to use the fact that I'm not a lawyer to my advantage and represent people out there who are watching the hearings," Franken said.

Franken is one of five non-lawyers on the judiciary committee.  He huddled Saturday with a group of prominent Minnesota lawyers to discuss which questions he should ask - and which questions he shouldn't.

"I think I want to talk about judicial activism and separation of powers," Franken said at the meeting.  "But I also want to deal with things (such as) net neutrality," the principle that broadband providers should not restrict content on the Internet.

Minnesota's senior senator, Amy Klobuchar, also is on the judiciary panel.  She is a lawyer and a former prosecutor, a job Sotomayor once had, as well. 

"I think that's an important part of her background that she brings to the Supreme Court," Klobuchar said, "this pragmatic experience of being on the front line as a prosecutor."

Something sure to come up at the confirmation hearing is a reverse-discrimination case, in which the Supreme Court recently overruled a lower court decision that involved Sotomayor.

She voted to allow the city of New Haven, Conn., to throw out the results of a written test that would have made white firefighters eligible for promotions, but not black firefighters.

"I think there will be a lot of questions, and there should be a lot of questions," Klobuchar said.  "But when you look at her record, 17 years as a judge, (and) before that, five years as a prosecutor, she comes to this nomination with more experience than any other judge that's been nominated in over 100 years."

Both Klobuchar and Franken are Democrats.

For his part, Franken said he's still forming his questions.  As the junior member of the committee, he'll be the last one to ask questions, so he still has time to write them down.

Franken said he is "predisposed" to Sotomayor and finds her impressive, but he said he'll wait to hear her answers to questions before he decides how to vote.

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