2009-07-15 02:27:01 -

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's pick for the U.S. Supreme Court, pushed back vigorously Tuesday against Republican charges that she would bring racial bias and a liberal agenda to her seat as the first Hispanic woman on the nation's top tribunal.
On the second day of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, Sotomayor insisted she would be impartial, even as Republican senators tried to undercut her with her own words from past speeches.
Sotomayor backed away from perhaps the most damaging words that had been brought up since Obama nominated her seven weeks ago, a comment in 2001 suggesting that a «wise Latina» judge usually would reach better conclusions than a white man. She called the remark «a rhetorical flourish that fell flat.
Though Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee did not appear convinced, Sotomayor still appeared headed toward confirmation as the first Hispanic justice on the top U.S. court. Democrats hold strong majorities in the Senate, and Republicans are wary about attempting procedural tactics to derail her, especially since Hispanics are an important part of the electorate.
In a long day in the witness chair, Sotomayor fielded a wide array of questions on the hottest legal and political issues. She stopped just shy of saying that the right to abortion _ one of the United States' most contentious issues _ was settled law. She said she had an open mind on gun rights.
She also readily agreed that the Supreme Court ruled wrongly during World War II when it upheld the detention of Japanese-Americans. It was a question with obvious implications for attempts to combat terrorism, and she explained how current courts can avoid similar mistakes.
«A judge should never rule from fear. A judge should rule from law and the Constitution,» she said.
It was the «wise Latina» comment, however, that kept Sotomayor on the defensive.
«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.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, a former judge and the committee's senior Republican, sounded unconvinced.
«As a judge who has taken this oath, I am very troubled that you would repeatedly over a decade or more make statements» like the one in 2001, he said.
Obama nominated Sotomayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Openings on the powerful, nine-member court are rare, and nominees receive extraordinary attention because, if confirmed, they serve until they retire or die.
The court shifted to the right as a result of the two justices named by George W. Bush. If confirmed, Sotomayor appears unlikely to alter the court's balance of power because Souter frequently sided with its liberal bloc on abortion and other controversial issues.
The issue of abortion rights has been central to Supreme Court confirmation fights for two decades or more. Sotomayor came close to saying the issue was settled, but stopped short of that flat declaration.
She cited Supreme Court cases upholding abortion rights and said that she considered them settled law subject to a great deal of deference, though not absolute.

She also carefully answered a question about gun rights, citing constitutional protections for bearing arms.
She resisted attempts by some Democrats to draw her into potentially contentious areas. When Sen. Russell Feingold asked whether the Supreme Court had made mistakes when it struck down Bush-era laws on policies relating to the war on terror, Sotomayor sidestepped.
«I smiled only because that's not the way judges look at that issue,» she said. «We don't decide whether mistakes were made. We look at whether action was consistent» with the Constitution and the law.
Sotomayor also said judges are not allowed to use foreign or international law to interpret the constitution. She says in her 17 years on the federal bench, she never has cited foreign law as the basis for an opinion.
Sotomayor was asked about that because of comments she has made that critics say suggest she might allow laws of other countries to influence how she rules.
Sotomayor is expected to face more questioning Wednesday.