Erwin Chemerinsky heartily endorses Sonia Sotomayor.

The former Duke University law professor, who moderated a forum with the Supreme Court nominee in 2005, said he thinks she is "terrific for the Supreme Court and the future of constitutional law," in a blog post on The New Republic today.

Now the dean of the U.C.-Irvine law school, he also said criticism of her is misguided.

"I think that is much ado about nothing," he wrote in an e-mail to the Duke Chronicle. "Of course, judges' life experience influence how they see the issues and matters before them. Judge Sotomayor's statement was innocuous and true. I think that this is grasping at straws to try and paint her a liberal."

It's not clear that Chemerinsky is responding to the comment that the Court of Appeals "is where policy is made," however.

It sounds more like a defense of Sotomayor's remark during a speech at U.C.-Berkeley in 2001 that has also been criticized.

"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," she said.

Update: Chemerinsky e-mailed Dome with a more explicit defense.

"Judge Sotomayor's comment was innocuous and true," he wrote. "Appellate judges and Supreme Court Justices must make choices about the law that include consideration of policy issues. Every first year law student knows this. I am amazed that anyone is making anything of this comment."

Hat Tip: ZTracer

Why are North Carolina's Senate races so competitive?

The New Republic's Seyward Darby (a Duke grad) noticed the same study that Dome saw and asked Ferrell Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.

He said the state was "made-to-order for close elections" with 46 percent Democrats, 32 percent Republicans and 23 percent independent.

And, since the 1970s, when North Carolina was still dominated by old-school Southern Democrats, voters of all affiliations have become increasingly moderate. "You've had immigration into the state... professionals, accountants, businesspeople who've swelled the suburbs, free-enterprise folks who vote Republican... but Democrats remained strong among environmentalists, teachers, black voters, some rural [voters], and city voters."

Guillory said Tar Heel voters swing between moderate liberals and moderate conservatives.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's latest ad is getting some attention.

The ad's image of Democratic rival Kay Hagan as a yipping dog was analyzed on The Plank, a blog run by The New Republic magazine.

...What exactly the dog stands for is up for debate. [Hogan] Gidley, Dole's spokesperson, took a long pause when asked what the dog symbolizes, noting slowly that there isn't "a particular image we are trying to portray." Eventually, he explained that it alludes to Hagan's stump persona. "She is out on the campaign trail barking fibs at the audience and telling half-truths and being negative and attacking [Dole] at every step. It's reminiscent of a dog barking, I guess," Gidley said. "Everyone's had to live next to a dog that just barks constantly, and you've heard the phrase 'all bark and no bite,' and Kay Hagan has been barking for a while. But she offers no plans, no bite."

The New Republic asked the Dole campaign about a "less flattering" interpretation of the image of a female (?) dog. Gidley said that idea is "just silly."