Sonia Sotomayor insisted today that the White House -- including President Obama himself -- has never asked her about her views on abortion, or any other issue.

In the first interview round on Day Three of Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings, Texas Republican John Cornyn then asked the nominee if there was any reason the White House moved to reassure abortion rights groups that there was no need to worry about her record. "You just have to look at my record to know that, in the cases that I addressed on all issues, I follow the law," she responded.

Cornyn then brought up the law firm Pavia & Harcourt, where she worked from 1984 until 1992, when she left to become a federal trial judge. The firm's partner, George Pavia, said he "guaranteed she was for abortion rights. On what basis did he say this?" Cornyn asked Sotomayor.

She replied that she "never spoke to him about my views on any social issue." She then briefly mentioned her ruling in a case where she denied a claim in 2002 brought by a reproductive rights group challenging the constitutionality of the so-called Mexico City policy, which bans U.S. aid to organizations that perform or promote abortions abroad. While only barely touching on it, she has been the first to mention this case -- one of the few she's decided that deals with abortion -- since questioning started Tuesday morning.

Regarding Pavia's comment, Sotomayor said, "He's a corporate litigator, and my experience with corporate litigators is they only look at the law when it affects the case before them."