Republicans are keeping up a steady stream of criticism about her record.

The Senate's Republican leader, Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, cited an article she wrote raising questions about the propriety of private campaign contributions, and an appellate-court ruling in which a panel she joined upheld Vermont's strict limits on raising and spending campaign money.

"Over the past several weeks, we've heard about a number of instances in which Judge Sotomayor's personal views seem to call into question her evenhanded application of the law," McConnell said.

The GOP's witness list suggests that Republicans will try to make issues of abortion and gun rights.

One scheduled witness is Sandy Froman, a National Rifle Association board member and past NRA president. She has expressed strong opposition to Sotomayor and called her hostile to the Second Amendment. Also on the list is Charmaine Yoest, head of the anti-abortion rights group Americans United for Life, which says Sotomayor has a "pro-abortion agenda."

And the GOP plans to call Ben Vargas, a Puerto Rican firefighter who scored highly on New Haven's promotion exam and was the lone Hispanic joining Ricci in his lawsuit.