When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said last month that she was "cheered" by President Obama's selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter, ears perked up in Washington and around the country. But now that Ginsburg has come out in full defense of Sotomayor in an extended interview with The New York Times, it's hard not to pay attention.

Q:Did you think that all the attention to the criticism of Sotomayor as being "bullying" or not as smart is sex-inflected? Does that have to do with the rarity of a woman in her position, and the particular challenges?

JUSTICE GINSBURG: I can't say that it was just that she was a woman. There are some people in Congress who would criticize severely anyone President Obama nominated. They'll seize on any handle. One is that she's a woman, another is that she made the remark about Latina women. [In 2001 Sotomayor said: "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."] And I thought it was ridiculous for them to make a big deal out of that. Think of how many times you've said something that you didn't get out quite right, and you would edit your statement if you could. I'm sure she meant no more than what I mean when I say: Yes, women bring a different life experience to the table. All of our differences make the conference better. That I'm a woman, that's part of it, that I'm Jewish, that's part of it, that I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and I went to summer camp in the Adirondacks, all these things are part of me.

Reading through Justice Ginsburg's forceful dissent last week in Ricci v. DeStefano (.pdf), it was difficult not to come away with the conclusion that she was supportive of Sotomayor. Specifically, Ginsburg noted that the lower court was acting according to "Second Circuit precedent," clearly undermining the argument that Sotomayor is in some way an activist outside the mainstream of modern jurisprudence.

But this is something different. To have a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court take the highly unusual step of coming out in multiple occasions to offer support for a nominee is quite remarkable -- and it says a great deal about the qualities Sotomayor would bring to the highest court in the land.