MEET THE CAST OF THE SOTOMAYOR HEARINGS.

Adam Serwer introduces you to to the family of players who will make the Sotomayor hearings this week:

The confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor begin this week, but the focus won't be on the kind of traditional culture war issues that have come to define Supreme Court battles. Instead, both the minority and majority witness lists suggests the GOP intends for the fight over Sotomayor to be fought on the battlefield of race, specifically the Ricci v. DiStefano affirmative action case.

Race may prove a minefield not only for the shrinking, increasingly homogenous GOP, but also for the Democrats, who risk turning a popular Supreme Court nominee into a millstone if Republicans manage to discredit her. These are the few of the major players on the witness list -- who they are can tell us a great deal about how the hearings themselves are going to play out.

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