• Sonia Sotomayor's "path to becoming President Obama's first Supreme Court appointment was enhanced by a two-pronged strategy: During more than 15 hours of questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she revealed little about the type of justice she would be, declining to disclose her views on the most significant and polarizing legal matters working their way through the courts," the Washington Post reports. "In addition, she deflected critics' allegations that her public speeches showed a bias based on her sex and ethnicity, assuring the committee she is a moderate jurist and not a liberal judicial activist."

• "The two sides of" Sotomayor -- "a privately warm, smiling everywoman who likes baseball and eating out, and the serious, well-studied and steely jurist -- both held up under three days of questions from 19 senators," AP reports.

• "The final day of the judge's testimony did not go entirely smoothly," the Washington Times reports. "The National Rifle Association (NRA) came out strongly in opposition to her nomination, and the New Haven, Conn., firefighter who has become the public face of one of her most fiercely debated decisions testified before the panel."

• "Whether or not the cordial ending of three days of grilling will translate into more than a handful of Republican votes for Sotomayor is unclear," the National Law Journal reports. "But confirmation seems assured, as Republicans pledged not to filibuster her nomination and a committee vote is likely to come before the end of July."

• "The first gauge of Republican support could come as early as next week, when the committee is scheduled to vote on her nomination," CQ Politics reports. "Committee Republicans say that date -- July 21 -- is too soon and are likely to seek to hold over the vote for a week."

• "Senior Republican staff aides said in interviews they expected that at least one and perhaps as many as three of the panel's seven Republicans might vote to approve the Sotomayor nomination and send it to the full Senate," the New York Times reports.

• Fox News reports that Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning plans to vote no.

• "The underlying politics are dicey for Republicans," AP reports. "They must be careful to keep faith with constituents like National Rifle Association members who oppose her, yet avoid offending the Hispanic voters who represent the fastest-growing segment of the electorate."

• Politico examines the phrase Sotomayor says defines her legal philosophy: "fidelity to the law."

Commentary

• "Despite some 583 questions from senators amid wall-to-wall news media coverage, her hearing may prove to be as notable for what the country did not learn about her as much as for what it did," Charlie Savage writes in a New York Times analysis.

• Peggy Noonan describes the hearings as "unsatisfying and relatively unilluminating."

• "The would-be first Latina justice faced a committee with only two women members in order to get confirmed by a Senate with only 17 women for a seat on a court with only one other woman." Ellen Goodman is disgusted that "Sotomayor had to prove that she wasn't biased: 'Men and women (are) equally capable of being wise and fair judges.'"

• The Los Angeles Times rounds up commentary from "several successful Latinas" to assess Sotomayor's treatment during the hearings.

• Roger Simon thinks Supreme Court nominees should tell their views on issues like abortion.

• Dana Milbank quips that the New Haven, Conn., firefighters' testimony reduced the argument against Sotomayor to "embers."

• "Even some liberals are not enamored with" Sotomayor, the Washington Times maintains. "It turns out that many on the left are insulted that Judge Sotomayor has run away from her radical record to appear more moderate during her Senate confirmation hearings."