Hearings fail to sway Sessions to Sotomayor’s side

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the Senate committee reviewing Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination said Sunday her testimony did not settle his concerns about elevating her to the Supreme Court.

“I was troubled by a number of the things the nominee has said, a number of the rulings she has made,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Sotomayor, a federal appeals court judge, is expected to be confirmed, given the Democrats’ big edge in the Senate and public support already from three GOP senators.

Sessions said Republicans would seek a Senate Judiciary Committee vote on July 28, a week past the date sought by Democrats. Republicans will use that additional time to review her record, her responses during last week’s hearings and her answers to additional questions sent to her, he said.

In the hearings, Republican focused on her remark that a “wise Latina” might come to a better conclusion than a white male and over her appeals court ruling in an affirmative action case involving white firefighters in New Haven, Conn. The Supreme Court reversed the ruling and found in favor of the firefighters.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he will not vote to confirm Sotomayor, citing what he called her lack of objectivity and his concern that her personal opinions would shape her rulings.

Neither Sessions nor Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee chairman, would predict how many Republican votes Sotomayor’s confirmation might receive in committee or the full Senate.

“I would hope it would be a bipartisan vote. She deserves it,” said Leahy, D-Vt.

Sessions and Leahy appeared Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” while McConnell was on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”