DOING ROMAN HRUSKA PROUD:

Sotomayor draws praise from GOP critics (JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MARK SHERMAN, 7/16/09, AP)

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., described Sotomayor's judicial record as "generally in the mainstream" and said he thought she would keep an open mind on gun rights. He proclaimed her "not an activist." [...]

Graham was not in the Senate when Sotomayor was confirmed for the appeals court in 1998, but several other Republican senators were.

Among them, Sens. Robert Bennett of Utah, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Olympia Snowe of Maine all voted in favor of her confirmation.

Hatch is a member of the Judiciary Committee that is conducting this week's hearings.

On Thursday, another Republican member of the panel, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, also called Sotomayor's rulings "pretty much in the mainstream," although he said her assertions of impartiality at the hearings were strikingly at odds with her past remarks.

"You appear to be a different person almost in your speeches and in some of the comments that you've made" before the Judiciary panel, Cornyn said.