• Sonia Sotomayor "spent Wednesday fending off Republicans' efforts to pin down her views on abortion and gun ownership," the New York Times reports. "In pursuing this line of questioning, Republicans were addressing issues of particular concern to their party's conservative base."

• The National Law Journal also reports on senators' efforts to ask Sotomayor about abortion.

• "As she progressed through the third day of her confirmation hearings, with no sign of a major mishap so far that would derail her approval by a heavily Democratic Senate, Sotomayor relaxed -- yet took no chances," the Washington Post reports. "She joked openly with members of the Judiciary Committee while increasingly avoiding their questions."

• Politico lists five arguments Sotomayor "returned to again and again."

• AP defines some of the legalese that is coming up in her exchanges with senators.

• AP also compares what Sotomayor has said so far compared to what John Roberts and Samuel Alito said during their hearings.

• The Washington Post has excerpted key exchanges between senators and Sotomayor.

• "After three days of testimony, Judge Sotomayor appeared to have made no major mistakes that would jeopardize her confirmation in a Senate dominated by Democrats," the New York Times reports in an analysis. "So both sides are trying to use the Judiciary Committee hearings to define the parameters of an acceptable nomination in case another seat opens up during" Barack Obama's "presidency."

• The Washington Post profiles Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., and examines the role he has filled in this nomination and past ones.

• "In a preview of witness testimony to be heard later this week, a group of New Haven, Conn., firefighters involved in one of Judge Sotomayor's most disputed rulings filed into the Senate Hart Office Building hearing room Wednesday morning and sat through much of the proceedings," the Washington Times reports. "Frank Ricci, the lead plaintiff in the racial reverse-discrimination case in which the Supreme Court overturned Judge Sotomayor's appeals court ruling, is set to testify this week."

• Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas -- "whose exchanges with Sotomayor have been crisp, cordial and contentious -- faces a double threat, Democrats say: He not only represents a state with a rapidly growing Hispanic population but is also responsible for coordinating GOP strategy for taking back the Senate," Politico reports.

• The National Rifle Association "has questioned" Sotomayor's "fitness to serve on the Supreme Court, a troubling sign for the nominee in what has so far been a smooth confirmation hearing," The Hill reports. "The NRA is considered one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington and holds sway with Democrats from conservative states, who could side with Republicans in opposing the nominee."

Commentary

• "The repeated questions about the handful of cases Republicans have highlighted, and Sotomayor's sometimes evasive responses, have made the decisions seem more like close calls than the judicial activism Republicans say they represent," Robert Barnes writes in an analysis.

• "It appears Republicans aren't the only ones who think Sotomayor has been less than candid in her testimony," Jan Crawford Greenburg observes, referring to comments by left-leaning legal experts.

• "By making the best of their meager case against Sotomayor, the Republicans signaled to Obama that they are ready to fight harder if he names to the bench other liberals less armored by their personal histories," David S. Broder remarks.

• In USA Today, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley says that "substance" has been "conspicuously absent" in the hearings. "What is most striking is how Sotomayor's statements were virtually identical to both her conservative and liberal predecessors."

• "Sotomayor's cautious openness to legal ideas and reasoning from overseas is part of a heartening trend," Daniel Terris, director of the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life at Brandeis University, maintains in the Boston Globe.

• Dana Milbank recounts Sen. Al Franken's part-humorous, part-serious style questioning on Wednesday.

• Gail Collins imagines some tongue-in-cheek exchanges between the Senate Judiciary Committee members and Sotomayor.

• Politico asks legal experts what -- if anything -- the hearings have revealed about Sotomayor so far.

• The Washington Post also rounds up commentary from legal experts.