Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas questioned Judge Sonia Sotomayor about the views expressed in a 1996 Suffolk University Law Review article she co-authored. The article, “Returning Majesty to the Law and Politics: A Modern Approach,” says that the law “is uncertain and responds to changing circumstances.”

“You wrote what appears to be an endorsement of the idea that judges should change the law,” Cornyn told the Supreme Court nominee during the third day of Senate confirmation hearings in Washington. Cornyn asked Sotomayor if she believes that judges ever change the law.

“They can't change law,” Sotomayor responded. “We're not lawmakers.”

But, she said that judges do change their views on how to interpret certain laws based on new facts and other factors.

The article in the Suffolk University Law Review that was adapted from a 1996 lecture to Suffolk Law students. Nicole A. Gordon is the co-author.

The full text of the article is online.