"Where policy is made": the full Sotomayor quote

Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court is roughly twelve hours old, and already would-be GOP leaders Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have made much of a comment she made at Duke Law School where she supposedly claimed that the court of appeals is "where policy is made."  I'm all for honestly opposing bad selections to the Supreme Court, but I'm not sure that this comment - in full context, mind you - automatically makes Sotomayor a flawed nominee.  For reference, here is the full quote in context:

"All of the legal defense funds out there, they're looking for people with court of appeals experience.  Because it is - court of appeals is where policy is made.  And I know, I know, that this is on tape, and I should never say that.  Because we don't make law, I know.  Okay, I know, I know, I'm not promoting it, and I'm not advocating it, I know.  Having said that, the court of appeals is where, before the Supreme Court makes the final decision, the law is percolating, it is interpretation, it is application."  

The talking heads of Romney and Huckabee (in rare agreement, for once) spent this afternoon focusing on the first part of the quote while ignoring the second part, where Sotomayor emphasizes that the crucial aspect of decisions made at the court of appeals (and, I hope she realizes, other lower level courts as well), is the interpretation and application of statutory law and Supreme Court precedent.  There is nothing wrong or unconstitutional about this: as any first-year law student knows (although apparently Mr. Romney, who earned his JD from Harvard, has forgotten) appellate courts do have the power to interpret and apply the law to specific situations.

Sotomayor may still end up being a flawed nominee.  I am impressed that she recognized the Bush administration's authority to prefer anti-abortion measures, and I still need to do more research on the New Haven firefighter case.  If there are grounds to oppose Sotomayor, they should be based on her actual decisions, and not on a suspect phrase from a talk to law students that is not an actual reflection on her judicial philosophy.  Republican lawmakers have better things to do than to seek to make Sotomayor "an offender for a word."  I hope that their critique will be focused on actual issues, not on the distracting drivel that Romney and Huckabee tried to push today.