July 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Senate Judiciary Committee clashed along party lines as it began the task of determining whether Judge Sonia Sotomayor will become the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sotomayor, her right foot still in a cast after breaking her ankle five weeks ago, listened as lawmakers today delivered the opening statements that will take up the first several hours of the hearing. Republicans questioned whether she is adequately committed to dispensing impartial justice and Democrats defended her as uniquely qualified.

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama criticized Sotomayor’s handling of a discrimination lawsuit filed by 17 white firefighters and one Hispanic in New Haven, Connecticut. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firefighters last month, overturning a decision by Sotomayor and two other judges.

“Judge Sotomayor’s empathy for one group of firefighters turned out to be prejudice against another,” said Sessions, the panel’s top Republican.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel’s Democratic chairman, called Sotomayor, 55, “a careful and restrained judge with a deep respect for judicial precedent and for the powers the other branches of the government, including the lawmaking role of the Congress.” During a break in the proceedings, he told reporters, “She will be confirmed.”

Sotomayor, a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School and a 17-year veteran of the federal bench, would be the first Hispanic, the third woman and the 111th justice to serve on the high court.

Opening Statement

She hasn’t spoken at length in public in the seven weeks since President Barack Obama selected her to replace Justice David Souter, who retired last month.

Sotomayor will make an opening statement to the Judiciary Committee today and probably will undergo questioning for at least two additional days. As with former President George W. Bush’s two nominees, John Roberts and Samuel Alito, the hearing will last about a week.

With a 60-40 majority in the Senate, Democrats have the votes to confirm Sotomayor even without Republican support. Members of both parties yesterday predicted that Republicans won’t try to prevent a vote on Sotomayor through a procedural device known as a filibuster.

“Unless you have a complete meltdown, you’re going to get confirmed,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, told Sotomayor. “And I don’t think you will.”

Elections Matter

Graham said he wasn’t sure how he would vote on the nomination, though he hinted he may defer to the Democratic president’s choice. “My inclination is that elections matter,” he said.

Senator Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, today criticized Sotomayor’s comments in a 2001 speech at the University of California at Berkeley that “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” She made similar comments in other speeches.

Those comments “don’t comport with what I and many others believe is a proper role for a judge,” Grassley said.

Senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin, faulted those who had labeled Sotomayor’s comments as “racist,” a word used by both former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and radio commentator Rush Limbaugh in the days following the nomination.

“No one who reads the whole Berkeley speech could possibly come to that conclusion,” Feingold said. “These are the words of a thoughtful, humble and self-aware judge.”

Deference Owed

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah, said the Senate “owes some deference to the president’s qualified nominees.” At the same time, he pointed to the votes Obama cast as a senator against the Roberts and Alito nominations.

During Senator Dianne Feinstein’s opening statement, a protester, dressed in a coat and tie, stood up in the back of the room and shouted, “what about the unborn?” and “abortion is murder” before being taken from the room by police officers.

Feinstein called Sotomayor “a very special woman” who employed “mainstream legal reasoning.”

The New Haven firefighters sued when the city canceled planned promotions because no blacks scored well enough on tests to qualify. The leader of the group, Frank Ricci, will testify before the Senate panel later this week.

Republicans said they will also ask her about her 12-year affiliation with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a group that pressed suits on job discrimination, bilingual education and minority voting rights.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 13, 2009 12:22 EDT