• "Sonia Sotomayor stands on the verge of making history as the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice, despite staunch opposition from Republicans who call her ill-suited for the bench," AP reports.

• Senate Majority Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday night on the Senate floor that the final vote on Sotomayor will be at 3 p.m. today.

• The vote will "likely land somewhere between the fairly bipartisan 78-22 vote that confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts in September 2005 and the much more partisan vote of 58-42 that confirmed Justice Samuel Alito in January 2006," The Hill reports. "Democrats split evenly, 22-22, on Roberts, but only four supported Alito and 40 opposed him."

• "Overwhelming Republican opposition... widens a partisan gulf that has lawmakers voting on ideology rather than qualifications," Bloomberg reports.

• "With the outcome of the Senate's vote preordained, senators of both political parties used a long day and night of debate over President Obama's first Supreme Court nominee to try to advance their larger goals," the Washington Post reports.

• "Democratic senators and leaders of Hispanic organizations sent a message to Republicans" Wednesday: "Their votes on" Sotomayor's "confirmation will matter," NationalJournal.com reports. "'To say that you cannot vote for this qualified Latina to be on the United States Supreme Court sends a message to us as a community that we will not forget,' said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., prompting the crowd -- assembled as part of a rally hosted by Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. -- to erupt in cheers."

• Politico has video from the rally Wednesday.

• "National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) dismissed as 'Democratic cheerleading' the idea that voting against" Sotomayor's confirmation "will negatively impact the standing of his party with Hispanics," the Washington Post reports.

• Politico reports that Republican Sens. Christopher (Kit) Bond of Missouri and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire are both voting in favor of Sotomayor's confirmation, while Roll Call (subscription) reports that GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is voting "no."

• • Keep tabs on which senators have committed to yes or no votes with NationalJournal.com's Vote Tracker.

• "More than 200 interest groups have submitted testimony in support of" Sotomayor, NationalJournal.com reports. "Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas had previously shared the record, with 21 interest groups in support of each judge during their nomination."

• "Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition executive director, urged Republican leaders Wednesday to oppose confirmation of" Sotomayor, "warning that" Obama "will 'gain crucial momentum' if he 'is perceived as winning big on Sotomayor because of a weak and divided GOP caucus,'" Politico reports.

• "Michael Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, worked behind the scenes leading up to the Senate debate this week on whether to confirm Sotomayor," the Blog of Legal Times reports.

Commentary

• "Sotomayor has proved that she has the experience, the temperament, and the wisdom to be a Supreme Court justice," the San Francisco Chronicle remarks. "The Senate should confirm her without delay."

• Eva Rodriguez takes political strategist Lionel Sosa to task for saying that when Republicans vote against Sotomayor, they're voting against Hispanic leadership. "Good thing Sosa is himself Hispanic, otherwise he'd be vilified -- and rightfully so -- for perpetuating the most ridiculous and hurtful of stereotypes, namely that people who share a certain heritage, race or ethnicity all think alike," Rodriguez argues.