Updated at 2:11 p.m. on July 17.

Not 24 hours after Sonia Sotomayor left the hot seat in Hart 216, three Republican senators have announced their intent to vote for her confirmation. Assuming Democratic senators are uniformly lined up for the nominee, these Republicans' support guarantees 61 "yea" votes.

Republicans Mel Martinez of Florida, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Richard Lugar of Indiana announced today they support President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.

Nonetheless, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., today announced his opposition to Sotomayor, expressing concern that she wouldn't be bound by precedent on the high court. "She could act more freely on the kinds of views that animated her troubling and legally incorrect ruling in the Ricci [v. DeStefano] case," McConnell said in a statement dated for Monday. "That's not a chance I'm willing to take."

McConnell's opposition suggests a sizable block of Republicans will likely vote against Sotomayor (four have already announced their plans to: Jim Bunning of Kentucky, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts of Kansas).

There will likely not be any effort to delay, though. Senate Judiciary ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Thursday during the hearings that he would not lead or support a filibuster and is looking forward to a vote before the August recess.

CORRECTION: The original version of this report misstated when McConnell made his remarks.