Right-leaning interest groups don't have a specific strategy lined up for Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation process. They concede that President Obama has put them in a political tough spot by nominating a Hispanic female justice and that the prospects of filibustering or forcing a withdrawal are slim to none. But conservative opponents still see a substantive battle to be fought, and as several GOP senators signaled on the Sunday talk shows, they're in no rush to have her confirmed.

"I don't think you can stand by and see a nominee go through a nomination with what she has said publicly about the role of judges," said one conservative D.C. lawyer who helped the Bush White House prepare John Roberts and Samuel Alito in 2005. "I don't think this is one where Republican senators can just confirm someone 96 to 3 or 4 and say, 'we're going to fight this fight on the next one."

Conservatives have roundly criticized Sotomayor, both for comments she's made in the past (notably her "wise Latina woman" comment and her remark that the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made") and for her more recent judicial work, particularly Ricci v. Stefano, in which New Haven firefighters' promotions were discarded because no black applicants made the cut. These issues haven't seemed to faze the administration or left-leaning groups about Sotomayor's competence or her chances of being confirmed.

But groups on the right are wondering what else might be out there. They are "playing a wait-and-see game," said Robert Alt, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and deputy director for its Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. "We're looking at a thumbnail sketch of Sotomayor. Much more will come out of the hearings. If more of the same comes out of the hearings -- more statements that express this sort of extreme view of identity politics, this view that judges can be making policy from the bench -- it will make it much more difficult for red-state Democrats to support her nomination. This is a question that only time will tell."

Alt also said that some Republican senators, such as Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Orrin Hatch of Utah, who "traditionally show a higher level of deference to the president" could be disturbed by the overall storyline emerging from Sotomayor's comments on how life experience influences judges and Obama's call for a justice who has "empathy."

Pushing for a filibuster doesn't seem likely. Wendy Long, general counsel for the Judicial Confirmation Network, was adamant about her organization's opposition to that idea. Hearkening back to Obama's opposition to Alito and Roberts, she said she "fully expects this judge will get better treatment now that the Republicans are in the minority. Every senator should stand up and vote and be accountable and shouldn't try to block someone who is nominated by the president."

Dan Meyer, former White House legislative affairs director for Bush, echoed Long's sentiment in a recent National Journal cover story (free for subscribers). "I'd be surprised to see anything like a filibuster," Meyer said. "Republicans have been arguing for eight years that a president should get to choose."

But if Republicans won't -- or can't -- filibuster, they could delay. Obama's goal is to have Sotomayor confirmed by the summer recess in early August. Not so fast, Alt cautioned. "At this point, most of the strategy is assuring that there is an adequate process and adequate time to review," Alt said. "That means making sure there is no agreement or arbitrary time tables that may not necessarily reflect what it'll take to" review her record. He added that he thinks "there is a good chance that Republicans will be pushing to wait until after the August recess to hold the vote. Quite frankly, in this particular case, there's no hurry."

This concern is backed by several comments that Republican senators made on the Sunday morning talk shows. Jeff Sessions, the Judiciary Committee ranking member, said he doesn't think a confirmation vote by the summer recess is realistic. "I think that's rushing it," Sessions, R-Ala., said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I believe that she has over 3,000, maybe 4,000-plus opinions that need to be examined. And I think there's no need for us to do that. We do need to do it by October. That's when Justice [David] Souter will be stepping down."

Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., was also candid about meeting his -- and not Obama's -- confirmation timetable. "Some of the White House [would] probably like it" this month, Leahy said. "That may be, and I think that probably would be too soon."