Sotomayor tells Senate panel she thinks judges must keep an ‘open mind’ about cases they judge

August 6th, 2009 Senate sets Thursday vote on SotomayorWASHINGTON — The Senate has agreed to vote Thursday on confirming Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. The historic vote on President Barack Obama's first high court nominee will take place in midafternoon.

July 21st, 2009 GOP Sen. Collins to support Sotomayor for courtWASHINGTON — An aide to Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins says Collins will vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

July 16th, 2009 Democrats to set first Sotomayor vote next weekWASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says he'll set a vote in his panel next week on confirming Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy says the vote will be Tuesday unless committee Republicans object.

July 16th, 2009 Morgenthau praises Sotomayor for high courtWASHINGTON — Veteran New York district attorney Robert Morgenthau is praising one of his former assistants, Sonia Sotomayor, as someone who can be an "outstanding" member of the Supreme Court. Morgenthau told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday that as an assistant district attorney, Sotomayor understood the importance of every criminal case to the victim.

July 16th, 2009 Graham says some detainees should never be freeWASHINGTON — A Republican senator is appealing to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor to recognize the nature of the enemy as the country considers how to prosecute detainees from the war on terror. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told Sotomayor that some of the detainees, if released, will "try to kill us all." He said some of them "deserve to be in jail until they die." Graham says he hopes a "rational system of justice" for the detainees emerges.

July 16th, 2009 Specter to Sotomayor: Confirmation seems certainWASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter has told Judge Sonia Sotomayor he thinks it's pretty certain she'll be confirmed for a seat on the Supreme Court.

July 16th, 2009 Graham talking more positively about SotomayorWASHINGTON — A Republican critic of Sonia Sotomayor says he's feeling more comfortable about her going to the Supreme Court, saying he hopes she won't let personal opinions drive her rulings. In an exchange with Sotomayor, Sen.

July 16th, 2009 Sotomayor testimony completedWASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has completed three days of answering questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The panel's top Republican, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, said he expects a Senate floor vote to come before the August recess.

July 15th, 2009 Sotomayor on the issuesSonia Sotomayor's rulings and writings on some issues in which she has refused to spell out her views during questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee: ABORTION She has not ruled in any cases that squarely confronted the right to abortion. As an appeals court judge she dismissed a challenge to the so-called global gag rule that denied federal funding to international organizations that provide or promote abortions.

July 14th, 2009 Sotomayor vows to use even hand in judging casesWASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has vowed to not let her personal views affect how she would rule on cases from the nation's highest court. In an exchange with the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Sotomayor said she believes comments she has made about the value of life's experiences have been misinterpreted by her critics.

July 14th, 2009 Sotomayor vows to keep open mind in gun casesWASHINGTON — Sonia Sotoymayor is seeking to reassure senators that she would not take any "preconceived notions" about gun rights to the Supreme Court if confirmed as a justice. The 55-year-old Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday that "one of my Godchildren is a member of the NRA.

July 13th, 2009 Leahy says Sotomayor follows rule of lawWASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says Sonia Sotomayor will be a Supreme Court justice who's "committed to the law" and "not to ideology." Describing Sotomayor as an "outstanding" nominee at the start of her Senate confirmation hearing Monday, Sen. Patrick Leahy denounced what he described as efforts to distort Sotomayor's record and views.

July 12th, 2009 Cornyn: Sotomayor must explain 'Latina' remarkWASHINGTON — A top Senate Republican says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will have to explain statements suggesting that judges can't be neutral, but he also acknowledges that her confirmation as the high court's first Hispanic justice won't be blocked. Texas Sen. John Cornyn tells "Fox News Sunday" that he and other Republicans on the Judiciary Committee plan to ask Sotomayor about her comment in 2001 that she hoped a "wise Latina" would often reach better conclusions than a white male without similar experiences.

July 9th, 2009 Study: Sotomayor tough on white-collar criminalsWASHINGTON — High court nominee Sonia Sotomayor typically handed out tougher prison sentences than her colleagues in the federal courthouse in Manhattan, especially to white-collar criminals, a new study says. Nearly half the people Sotomayor sentenced for financial fraud and other white-collar crimes received at least 6 months in prison, according to an analysis released Thursday by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

June 5th, 2009 Buried in documents is a little Sotomayor humorWASHINGTON — Did you hear the one about the three judges who go duck hunting? Sonia Sotomayor has. The joke, as pieced together from the Supreme Court nominee's typed and handwritten notes for a 2006 speech at Hofstra University, goes like this: A Supreme Court justice, a circuit judge and a district judge go duck hunting.