Two George Mason University Law Professors will be testifying at the Senate hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court, this Monday. Neomi Rao and Ilya Somin are listed among the Republican witnesses. Both have published articles on Sotomayor’s nomination in the past few months.

Assistant Professor of Law Neomi Rao recently served as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to President George W. Bush. Rao also served as nominations counsel to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Interesting Fact: She’s a qualified solicitor in England and Wales (meaning she can practice law there).

Rao wrote “Questions for Sotomayor: The Confirmation Process shouldn’t be a rubber stamp“, published in the May 27 edition of the Wall Street Journal. Rao suggested a number of questions regarding Sotomayor’s judicial philosophy, including “Do you believe that interpretations of the Constitution should evolve to keep up with the times?”, and “What is the Supreme Court’s role in interpreting ambiguous laws?”

Assistant Professor of Law Ilya Somin is the current co-editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review and a writer for the Volokh Conspiracy. Interesting Fact: He has previously been a visiting professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and the University of Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (I wonder how many languages he speaks)

Somin has written several posts regarding Sotomayor on the Volokh Conspiracy. I’m unfamiliar with the Volokh Conspiracy so I don’t know if there’s any way to link to these stories directly that I’m unaware of- you’ll have to scroll down to find them. Post titles include “Would Sonia Sotomayor be the first Hispanic justice?,” “Sotomayor may be wrong about Race but she’s no Racist,” several posts regarding property rights and her ruling in the Didden case, and others. Make sure you’re reading the articles by him- that page contains the work of several authors.