WASHINGTON (July 14, 2009)—U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor spent the day Tuesday laying out her judicial philosophy and vigorously defending herself against Republican charges she'd bring bias to the Supreme Court.

She insisted that she has always based her rulings on the law.

Sotomayor said she doesn't believe that "any racial, ethnic or gender group has an advantage in sound judging."

She was asked Tuesday to clarify her controversial remark that a "wise Latina" might be able to make better decisions than a white man.

Sotomayor told Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy that she used those words in an effort to inspire groups of young Hispanics to believe that "they could become anything they wanted to become."

The high court nominee said she believes different life experiences enrich the legal system.

Another anti-abortion activist was removed the hearing Tuesday, the fifth demonstrator to disrupt the proceedings in two days.

It took a half-dozen Capitol Police officers to remove the struggling protester from the hearing room Tuesday after he yelled, "She's a baby killer."

Four protesters were arrested Monday and charged with unlawful conduct-disruption of Congress.

Firefighters Suit Ruling

Sotomayor defended her ruling against white firefighters who accused the New Haven, Conn., government of engaging in reverse discrimination against them.
At the prompting of Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy Tuesday, Sotomayor said that the unanimous ruling she participated in on a panel of the 2nd U.S. circuit court of appeals was narrowly drawn.
She said it was about an examination for firefighter promotions, "not about quotas, not about affirmative action."
Sotomayor said the judges were basing their ruling on precedent and acknowledged that the Supreme Court now has reversed field in its 5-4 ruling in favor of the firefighters.

Property Rights

Sotomayor sidestepped a question about whether the high court had overstepped its authority when it ruled in 2005 that governments may seize property for private development projects.
Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa had sought at Tuesday's hearing to probe Sotomayor's beliefs about property rights.
She did say she respected the "right of property owners to have their day in court."
In a case from New London, Conn., the high court had ruled 5-4 against Susette Kelo, who brought a lawsuit against municipal officials who seized her pink cottage for private development.

Terrorism

A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee appears to be trying to determine how
Sotomayor might rule in cases involving U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects.
In response to questioning from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Sotomayor said she believes the nation is at war and that there are people intent on the destruction of the United States.
But she wouldn't answer Graham's questions about whether a person who is found to be a member of an enemy force must eventually be returned to battle or released. Sotomayor said she has not practiced military law, though she has read Supreme Court rulings based on that law.

Abortion

Sotomayor said Tuesday that she considers the question of abortion rights settled precedent and says there is a constitutional right to privacy.
The federal appeals court judge was asked at her confirmation hearing Tuesday to state how she felt about the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion in 1973.
Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "there is a right of privacy. The court has found it in various places in the Constitution." She said this right is stated in the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure and in the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection of the law. She declined to say pointblank if she agreed with the high court's precedent on this volatile issue.

Mentors

Given a chance to say Tuesday which current Supreme Court justice or justices she most admires, Sotomayor took a pass.
Answering a question from Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, the 55-year-old Sotomayor declared: "To suggest that I admire one of the sitting Supreme Court justices would suggest that I think of myself as a clone of one of the judges. I don't."
But Sotomayor also volunteered a justice from the path whom she reveres. She praised Justice Benjamin Cardoza, saying that she admired how he carried himself on the bench. She said he respected precedents and the powers of Congress. Sotomayor said if she cited any current member of the bench as a mentor figure, it could be construed that she disagreed with someone else.

Bush-Gore

She's not offering an opinion on the Supreme Court ruling that decided the 2000 presidential election, but Sotomayor says "some good" came out of it.
The case, Bush v. Gore, cemented Republican George W. Bush as the victor in the 2000 election over Democrat Al Gore. Sotomayor says the battle over the disputed Florida presidential ballots, and the flaws that were exposed, brought "enormous" changes to the electoral process.
Sotomayor told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that it's a "tribute to the greatness" of the American system of government. She says all branches of government became involved in how to improve the electoral process.

Personal Beliefs

Sotomayor has vowed to not let her personal views affect how she would rule on cases from the nation's highest court.
In an exchange with the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Sotomayor said she believes her critics have misinterpreted comments she has made about the value of life’s experiences.
Sotomayor said flatly to the Alabama Republican: "I do not permit my sympathies, personal views or prejudices influence the outcome of my cases." She said that was not the message she was conveying in a much-criticized speech she gave at Duke University.