Senator Lindsey Graham R-S.C., predicts Sotomayor to be Confirmed for the High Court barring a meltdown

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats praised Sonia Sotomayor as a Hispanic pioneer well qualified for the Supreme Court on Monday, but Republicans questioned her impartiality and President Barack Obama's views as well at the start of confirmation hearings. Despite Republican misgivings, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Sotomayor, "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed. "And I don't think you will" have a meltdown, he added quickly as Sotomayor sat listening, her face in a half-smile.

Graham spoke after Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Sotomayor in remarks that opened the proceedings in a packed Senate hearing room. "She's been a judge for all Americans. She'll be a justice for all Americans," he said. Leahy likened Sotomayor to other judicial pioneers, citing Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice on the high court, as well as Louis Brandeis, the first Jew, and Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman.

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