let's give him a warm welcome to the dallas clapter, tom dupree. [applause] >> good afternoon. thank you very much for inviting me here today and thank you, dan, for that kind introduction. it's always a pleasure for me to return to texas, as dan mentioned, i clerked a little bit down the road in houston. it's wonderful to come back and have a chance to catch up with many old friends and escape the summertime heat in washington, d.c. thank you very much for having me here today. what i thought i'd do is talk a little bit about president obama's -- the way he selected judge sotomayor to fill the souter vacancy and speak about the confirmation process and what we might anticipate as that gos forward. then i'd like to offer observations and thoughts as to the way judge sotomayor if confirmed, is likely to approach the law and constitution as a justice of the supreme court. then i certainly want to make sure i allow ample time for questions since i know these are issues that interest all of us, i'll be sure to leave enough time to hear what's on your mind. as we stand here today, i