One of the above questions, at least, has a pretty easy answer that begins to get to the point of the cartoon. Sotomayor is smiling because there will not be a beating as the whole situation is a standoff, not a party. Taking a swing is be political suicide. The position of weakness is reversed and shown to be a position of power.

There is plenty to take issue with beside this. One can construct arguments that will be offensive at the expense of the ones one is arguing on behalf of (shows like Southpark do this quite often). The cartoon is still problematic, but not in the ways (or in more complex ways) that it seems most people are taking it.