Eugene Volokh defends Sonia Sotomayor against Ed Whelan's critique of a joke she told about Supreme Court justices "pondering [] policy implications."

I think Eugene is right. There are many cases in which text and intent are far from clear, and many areas of law in which judges are invited to make policy choices. Even aside from the fact that Judge Sotomayor was telling a joke -- and that her characterization of the Supreme Court strikes me as positive rather than normative -- her comments here hardly strike me as objectionable.