11:06 a.m.

Coburn asks if it is "important that we look good to people outside our country?"

"We don't render decisions to please the home crowd, or any other crowd," Sotomayor says.

11:01 a.m.

Sotomayor says she has "actually agreed" with justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia on the limits of international law.

"I've never used it to interpret the Consitution or interpret an American statute," Sotomayor says. "Foreign law cannot be used as a holding or a precedent."

OK, but this leaves unanswered the use that has been made by the likes of Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has cited international law not as precedent but as rhetorical support, a sign of advancing ethical understanding. A point that Sotomayor then makes, noting that justices cite foreign law but not for precedential reasons.

10:54 a.m.

Judges don't make law, Sotomayor tells Coburn. Just so everyone knows who hadn't heard this already.

"Do I have a right to personal self-defense?" Coburn asks.

Sotomayor says she cannot think of a case focusing on a constitutional right to self-defense. Coburn presses her on whether she has a personal opinion. Sotomayor says that is "an abstract question with no particular meaning for me." Ooh, snap!

"Is it OK to defend yourself in the home?" Coburn insists. "Yes or no?"

Sotomayor tries it this way: under New York state law, imminent threat can justify the use of force. The question that comes up is, how imminent is the threat? A threat doesn't necessarily mean you can go home, get a gun and start blasting.

10:42 a.m.

Coburn asks if fetal viability, as affected by advancing technology, should shape the law governing abortion. Sotomayor sidesteps.

Does a state legislature have a right to determine definition of death? Sotomayor says it depends on the context.

Coburn notes that fetal heartbeats can be detected within 14 days of conception, and brain waves can be detected within 39 days. Just sayin', he says. 

Then, from right to life, Coburn shifts gears to the right to take life bear arms. It's the Maloney decision, again, in which Sotomayor upheld New York's right to ban nunchucks. Coburn presses her on whether she believes he has a fundamental right in Oklahoma to own firearms. Sotomayor reminds Coburn that this is a question the court may yet take up.

10:38 a.m.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma apologizes to Sotomayor for the pro-life "outbursts" during Tuesday's hearing. Because he's a civil kind of senator.

"Let's say I'm 38 weeks pregnant," Coburn then posits.

OK: Let us all imagine that. Tom Coburn is 38 weeks pregnant. Now, Coburn says, imagine the mother determines testing reveals the fetus has spina bifida. Abortion OK?

"I can't look at in the abstract without knowing what state laws (apply)," Sotomayor says, duckingly.