Panel to split on Sotomayor

WASHINGTON - On the eve of their panel's vote, the top two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday that they would oppose Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, joining a growing list of conservatives ready to vote against the judge who is virtually certain to become the first Hispanic justice.

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Judiciary's ranking Republican, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R., Iowa), its No. 2, both said Sotomayor left them doubting her pledge of "fidelity to the law" and wondering whether she would let her personal biases and prejudices interfere with her rulings.

Just one of the seven Judiciary Republicans, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, has said he will vote for Sotomayor, President Obama's first high court nominee. The panel has 12 Democrats.

The full Senate is all but certain to confirm Sotomayor next week. Many Republican senators are eager to please their core conservative supporters by opposing her but fear a backlash by Hispanic voters, a fast-growing part of the electorate, if they do so.

A handful of Republicans have said they will support Sotomayor, 55, a federal appeals judge who would succeed retired Justice David H. Souter.

Sessions accused Sotomayor of trying to "rebrand" her judicial approach in her confirmation hearings, and said he doubted she had the "deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism" on the court.

Grassley said he wasn't sure that Sotomayor understood the rights Americans have under the Constitution, or that she would refrain from expanding or restricting those rights based on her personal preferences.

Sen. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.) also said yesterday that he would vote against her, saying he was concerned she would not set aside her biases and rule impartially.

No member of the majority Democrats has announced plans to vote no.