The Sotomayor hearings

Turn the dials on the Wayback Machine to 1997:

Then-Sen. John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo.) engaged Sotomayor over a case in which an inmate had sued prison officials who had removed him from his food service job because he was openly gay, a move that, as Ashcroft put it, would "prevent disciplinary problems that could arise from having open homosexuals prepare food."

Ashcroft moved to a broader question: "Do you believe that there is a constitutional right to homosexual conduct by prisoners?" Sotomayor answered: "No, sir, there is not. . . . The only constitutional right that homosexuals have is the same constitutional right every citizen of the United States has, which is not to have government action taken against them arbitrarily and capriciously."

Ashcroft pressed on. "Are there any rights that are not protected by the Constitution that . . . you would like to see protected?"

"I have not thought about that in a while, sir. No," Sotomayor said.

Ashcroft was dissatisfied. "My time is not up," he said.

But Sotomayor held firm. "I think I answered," she said.

Man, Ashcroft had weird obsessions. Prison food? Really?