Sotomayor pushes back hard on racial bias charges

WASHINGTON - It was almost as if the judge were on trial. Answering for her own past statements, Sonia Sotomayor battled her way through a grueling day of intense and sometimes critical questioning by senators.

But there was little question of the verdict: She's all but certain to win confirmation to the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor pushed back vigorously Tuesday against Republican charges that she would bring bias and a liberal agenda to her seat as the first Hispanic woman on the court, insisting repeatedly she would be impartial as GOP senators tried to undercut her with her words from past speeches.

There is little doubt that President Barack Obama's first high court choice - with solid backing from the Democrats and their lopsided Senate majority - will be confirmed. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said as much - and predicted she would receive at least some Republican backing.

Sotomayor, 55, kept her composure - judge-like, supporters said - during the intense day of questions and answers, listening attentively and scribbling notes as senators peppered her with queries, then leaning into her microphone and gesturing for emphasis as she responded. Serious for the most part, she occasionally smiled and even laughed at lighter moments. She returns for another full day of questioning today.

"My record shows that at no point or time have I ever permitted my personal views or sympathies to influence the outcome of a case," the appeals court judge declared during a tense exchange with Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the committee that is conducting this week's confirmation hearings. He repeatedly questioned her ability to be objective as a Supreme Court justice, citing her own comments.

Sotomayor backed away from perhaps the most damaging words that had been brought up since Obama nominated her seven weeks ago - a 2001 comment suggesting that a "wise Latina" judge would usually reach better conclusions than a white man. She called the remark "a rhetorical flourish that fell flat."

"It was bad because it left an impression that I believed that life experiences commanded a result in a case, but that's clearly not what I do as a judge," Sotomayor said.

Obama named Sotomayor to replace Justice David Souter, who retired last month. While Souter was appointed by a Republican, President George H.W. Bush, he frequently sided with the court's liberal bloc on controversial issues such as abortion and affirmative action.

As a result, if confirmed, Sotomayor appears unlikely to alter the court's balance of power on those issues.