for example, in a speech in 2002, judge sotomayor embraced the remarks of judith resnik and martha minnow, who are two prominent law professors who each proposed theories about judging that are far different from the way that i think most americans think about these issues. most americans think that the people elect their representatives, members of the house and senate, to write the laws. and that judges, rather than rewriting those laws, should interpret those laws in a fair and commonsense way without imposing their own views on what the law should be. most americans think that when judges impose their own views on a case, when they substitute their own political preferences for those of the people and their elected representatives, they undermine democratic self-governance and they became judicial activists. professors resnik and minnow have very different ideas from, i think, the mainstream american thought on what a judge's job should be. their views may not be controversial in the ivory tower of academia. academics often encourage each other to engage in provocative theories and so