Sotomayor hearings to begin July 13

Spat over scheduling
Republicans point instead to the 92 days that elapsed between the nomination of Justice Samuel Alito and his confirmation, and argue that the 3,000-plus rulings Sotomayor has made warrant a much longer lag time than the 300-plus decisions Roberts had written.

The spat over scheduling her confirmation hearings came as Sotomayor was camped out in a Capitol office meeting with a succession of visiting senators, having scrapped plans to go see them in their offices because of a broken ankle.

Sotomayor said she felt great a day after stumbling in the airport while rushing for a flight from New York City to Washington. But the appeals court judge, whose right leg is in a cast and is using crutches, opted to hold meetings in the office of the No. 2 Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, rather than hobble through hallways for the eight visits on her schedule.

She drew good reviews from one Republican she met with, Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida. The Cuban-born senator spoke with Sotomayor in Spanish before news cameras and later said he expected her to be confirmed "with pretty good numbers."

Martinez also came to the judge's defense over her 2001 comment that she hoped a "wise Latina" usually would reach better conclusions than a white male without those experiences.

"For someone who is of a Latin background, personally ... I understand what she is trying to say, which is the richness of her experience forms who she is. It forms who I am," Martinez said. "I think she was using that as rhetoric, but I don't believe that it is part of what she utilizes in her opinions."

Sidestepped some questions
Some Republicans raised serious questions, though, about Sotomayor's positions on sensitive issues. Conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said Sotomayor was "unwilling" to say that the Second Amendment granting gun rights was "a fundamental right that applies to all Americans." He also said the judge had sidestepped a question on whether an unborn child has rights, saying she had never thought about it.

"This is not just a question about abortion, but about the respect due to human life at all stages, and I hope this is cleared up in her hearings," DeMint said in a statement.

Obama's team, meanwhile, continued promoting Sotomayor's confirmation. It held an event at the White House to showcase her endorsement by eight national law enforcement organizations, including the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Association of District Attorneys.

Conservatives called the event an attempt to falsely portray Sotomayor as a "law and order" judge when in fact, they argued, her record exposed her as the opposite, especially on matters of racial discrimination.

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