Following the path of other recent Supreme Court nominees, Sonia Sotomayor dropped into a defensive crouch Tuesday afternoon, declining to offer her views on most legal issues raised by Senate Judiciary Committee members.

She sidestepped philosophical questions by citing pending court cases that come before the Supreme Court and avoiding the policy implications of her rulings by discussing only the limited legal questions she weighed and saying broader questions belonged to Congress.

"It is frustrating, I know for you and probably the other senators, when a nominee for the court doesn't engage directly with the societal issues that are so important to you," Sotomayor told Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., when he asked her views on the disparity between crack and powder cocaine sentences.

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