• Senate Republicans have started "focusing their critique of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, readying a series of speeches to illustrate conservative discomfort with" her, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., "and other Judiciary Republicans will take aim at" Sotomayor's "position on gun rights, the role of 'empathy' in her rulings as a federal judge, and whether she has allowed foreign laws to inform her decisions in the past," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Republicans will also focus their critiques of Sotomayor on her involvement in the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund."

• The Washington Times profiles Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

• "As president, Obama avoided much talk about diversity even while choosing the most diverse Cabinet in history: He publicly justified each nominee on his or her individual merits, not race or background," the Boston Globe reports. "With his nomination of" Sotomayor, "however, Obama has sounded some very different notes."

• Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., will meet with Sotomayor today, AP reports.

Commentary

• Stanley Fish describes a recent panel discussion he attended, which examined the empathy standard in the context of Sotomayor's nomination.

• "Sotomayor's resignation last week from the all-women's Belizean Grove club raises questions about what constitutes an elite and exclusionary group and whether any public official should belong to one," remarks columnist Carol Hymowitz on Forbes.com.

• Ed Whelan looks at a New York Times article from Monday about the relationship between Judge José Cabranes and Sotomayor.