Whitehouse questions Sotomayor

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse had the chance Wednesday to question Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Whitehouse, D-R.I., sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is in the third day of Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings.

The hearings have featured Sotomayor’s promise to follow the law and judicial precedent.

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There have been some attempts by Republican senators to press her on some of her recorded comments, including one extolling the virtues of being a Latina judge as opposed to being a white man.

But the committee and the Senate—both controlled by Democrats—are not likely to have any trouble confirming her, and Whitehouse’s opening statement showed where he stands on her nomination.

“I was talking with some friends in Providence when I was home about your nomination, and I said it actually gives me goose bumps to think about the path that has brought you here today,“ Whitehouse said to Sotomayor.

Whitehouse asked Sotomayor to promise to decide cases on the facts and not on her personal opinions. She had no trouble making that pledge.