Blunt, left, and Clay

Southwest Missouri Republican Roy Blunt and St. Louis Democrat Lacy Clay – who, as members of the U.S. House, will be spectators like the rest of us to the Senate’s Supreme Court confirmation process –  have nonetheless offered their views on nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s fitness for the bench.

Not surprisingly, Clay issued an enthusiastic endorsement of the Brooklyn-born jurist:

Judge Sotomayor will bring a brilliant legal mind, a fair-minded common-sense temperament and a compelling American story to the high court. In making this historic nomination, President Obama has kept his promise to break down barriers, advance inclusion for women and minorities, and to respect the constitutional mandate for equal protection under the law for all Americans. I applaud Judge Sotomayor’s nomination. And I look forward to her swift confirmation by the Senate.

Blunt, who is running for U.S. Senate, followed a measured Republican response in Washington today, asking for restrained scrutiny:

The most important issue when considering a Supreme Court nominee is their judicial philosophy and whether they are an activist who would attempt to legislate from the bench, or a jurist who respects the authority of the Constitution. This nominee offers proper professional credentials and a compelling life story. However, her view that judges should make policy raises a huge red flag. The U.S. Senate should neither pre-judge or pre-confirm, but thoughtfully, thoroughly and rigorously examine the record of this nominee to our nation’s highest court.

Reaction from around Capitol Hill today seems to indicate that Republicans will not vigourously oppose Sotomayor’s nomination, if for no other reason then the wide Democratic majority in the Senate would make the logisitics difficult.