WASHINGTON – 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. Approval would make Sotomayor the first Hispanic justice on the high court.
Sotomayor won praise from Democrats and Republicans. But some Republicans voiced concern about some of her speeches and writings on the role of a judge and the impact her own background might have on her rulings. Republican Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said he's "deeply troubled" by some of those words.
Chairman Patrick Leahy told Sotomayor she had answered questions with "intelligence, grace and patience." And Sotomayor told the committee she's received a "gracious and fair" hearing.
The panel now hears from a series of outside witnesses, including a Connecticut firefighter who was at the center of a controversial ruling in which Sotomayor took part as a federal appeals judge.