"We would have liked to hear her boldly defend the idea of the Constitution as a living document, one that changes with the times."

Were last week's confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a squandered opportunity for the left? The New York Times thinks so:

At times, she too willingly ceded ground to her conservative questioners. We wish she had spoken out forthrightly in favor of empathy, a quality President Obama has said he is looking for in his judicial nominees. We would have liked to hear her boldly defend the idea of the Constitution as a living document, one that changes with the times. And we would have preferred if she had used the hearings to explain to the public that the much-mentioned distinction between judges making and applying the law has little meaning.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? For a more useful take on where the Sotomayor confirmation fell flat, don't miss Radley Balko on how nobody at the hearings was interested in talking about criminal justice or the rights of the accused.