11:21 a.m.

Specter declares Sotomayor has done "an outstanding job" as a witness, and then the committee breaks for a few minutes.

11:19 a.m.

"I've got about a minute and a half left," Specter says, and somewhere, surely, people breathe easier.

11:10 a.m.

Television cameras in the courtroom? Asked and answered Wednesday, but Sotomayor repeats that her own experience with cameras in the courtroom has been positive. So far, Specter has five co-sponsors on his perennial bill to bring cameras inside the chambers.

"I would certainly relay my experiences," Sotomayor said.

11:06 a.m.

Now Specter is jumping around and diving into procedural weeds, asking whether Sotomayor will join the "cert pool" by which seven of the court's nine justices combine in screening petitions. Because the American people demand to know where she stands on the cert pool!

Sotomayor says she is likely to follow Justice Samuel Alito's approach, to first try running her own cert screen process to see how that works.

There is a definite cost-benefit question in the cert pool business, as Sotomayor notes. With four clerks, each justice has a lot of work to do reviewing the 8,000-plus petitions that pour into the court every year. On the other hand, a justice gives up some autonomy and independent judgment when relying on the cooperative cert pool approach, and some studies suggest it may overly impede certain types of petitions.

11:02 a.m.

Specter brings up Riverkeeper case, one of Sotomayor's big environmental rulings that was overturned by the Supreme Court on a 5-4 basis. Sotomayor does not really bite, despite Specter's apparent efforts to urge her on to challenge the conservatives love for cost-benefit analysis.

11:00 a.m.

Republican Sen. Arlen Specter returns, asks question that allows Sotomayor to say she does not judge based on ideology.

10:57 a.m.

This being the Senate confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor, Cornyn returns the questioning, again, to firefighter Frank Ricci. The senator cites the fact that Ricci, 35, is dyslexic. Which sounds, actually, like the senator wants the world to have empathy for this man because of his status.

10:45 a.m.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn assures Sotomayor that "we like you," and secures from her an acknowledgment that she has been treated fairly.

Cornyn runs down a list of topics on which he claims Sotomayor's past statements -- on issues like the influence of foreign law -- have differed from her confirmation hearing statements. Sotomayor says people need to read her speeches completely; she cites, yet again, to former Justice Sandra Day O'
Connor, who spoke of a "wise woman" making a wise decision.

"Your judicial record strikes me as being pretty much in the mainstream," Cornyn acknowledges, suggesting that she "appears to be a different person" in her speeches.