UPDATED at 4:45 p.m.

CongressDailyPM has more on the political back-and-forth that will likely follow from today's announcement:

The committee hearing will likely take most of the week, with Republicans able to delay a vote after completion of the hearing for an additional week. That would give the Senate two weeks to confirm Sotomayor before the recess, although the chamber already faces a packed July calendar.

Republican aides and senators suggested today that Leahy's announcement could be a bargaining tactic. He might later seek to win backing for a late July hearing by framing a short delay as a compromise, one aide said.

Original post:

Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings will begin on July 13, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., announced today.

In a statement on the Senate floor, Leahy hearkened back to the time line set for John Roberts in 2005. He said the agreement at that time was reached before the committee received answers from the nominee to its questionnaire. "If 48 days were sufficient to prepare for that hearing, in accordance with our agreement and the initial schedule, it is certainly adequate time to prepare for the confirmation hearing for Judge Sotomayor," Leahy said. Sotomayor was nominated on May 26 -- 48 days before July 13.

Democrats are hoping for a confirmation vote in the full Senate before the August recess, despite calls from Republicans to hold the process until September. See our timeline of past SCOTUS confirmations here.

"There is no reason to unduly delay consideration of this well-qualified nominee," Leahy said. "Indeed, given the attacks on her character, there are compelling reasons to proceed even ahead of this schedule. She deserves the earliest opportunity to respond to those attacks."

The July 13 date was a goal the administration and Democratic lawmakers have had in mind from the beginning. On May 27, the day after the nomination was announced, Democratic officials viewed the week of July 13 as the "earliest date that hearings could start, with the nomination heading to the Senate floor about two weeks later." Leahy said today, however, that his target date had been July 7 and that he pushed it back a week in deference to his Republican colleagues.