Updated at 9:07 a.m. on May 28.

A heated confirmation battle may seem inevitable for any Supreme Court nominee, but a majority of right-leaning bloggers polled by NationalJournal.com say the GOP should keep it cool against Sonia Sotomayor.

Asked if it would be "politically smart for Republicans to try to block" Sotomayor's confirmation, 52.9 percent of the 17 right-of-center bloggers surveyed Tuesday and today said no. Meanwhile, all 20 left-leaning bloggers in the poll agreed with them.

Several right-leaning bloggers noted that Senate Republicans likely don't have the votes to stop Sotomayor's confirmation and said they have nothing to gain from blocking her. "Ultimately, I believe the confirmation is not a request for ideological approval, but a check against corruption and incompetence," said Jon Henke of The Next Right. Rob Port of Say Anything said an attempted block would be "a waste of time" and asked, "Why not let it go through and concentrate on other priorities like nationalized health care and cap-and-trade?"

But Dan McLaughlin of Baseball Crank, who voted yes, said, "It's clear that Republicans need to lay down a marker on how liberals vs. conservatives view the role of the courts. Actually defeating the nomination, which remains an unlikely result, may end up being irrelevant to that goal."

On the left, several bloggers said playing hardball on Sotomayor would seriously damage the GOP's relations with Latinos. "They mess this one up and they'll carry it as a cross into 2010, 2012, even 2016," said Liza Sabater of CultureKitchen. As for early tactics, "I don't think accusing her of reverse racism is going to do them any more good than accusing Obama of 'palling around with terrorists,'" said Ellen Brodsky of News Hounds.

National Journal's Political Insiders will weigh in on Sotomayor in this week's magazine.