Glenn Greenwald has had personal interactions with Judge Sonia Sotomayor in his work as a litigator. Here’s what he says about her:

My perception of Sotomayor is almost the exact opposite of the picture painted by Rosen.  I had a generally low opinion of the intellect of most judges — it’s one of the things I disliked most about the practice of law — but I found her to be extremely perceptive, smart, shrewd and intellectually insightful.  The image that has been instantaneously created of her as some sort of doltish mediocrity, based on nothing but Rosen’s water-cooler chatter, is, at least to me, totally unrecognizable.  Of the countless federal judges with whom I had substantive interaction over more than ten years of litigation, I would place her in the top tier when it comes to intellect.  My impressions are very much in line with the author of this assessment of Sotomayor, who had much more extensive interaction with her and — unlike Rosen’s chatterers — has the courage to attach his name to his statements.

It’s noticable that contrary to Jeffrey Rosen’s TNR smears, people who know and have worked with Sotomayor find her extensively qualified for consideration as a Supreme Court justice.