Sotomayor declines to talk about abortion views

— -- Judge Sonia Sotomayor refused to be pinned down on abortion, the focus of a number of senators' questions as the third day of her confirmation hearings opened Wednesday.

Sotomayor, whose judicial record on abortion rights is scanty, said she made no promises to anyone, including President Obama, about how she'd vote on the controversial issue.

"I was asked no question by anyone, including the president, about my views on any specific legal issue," Sotomayor said.

The judge told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, she has "no idea" why her former law partner, George Pavia, toldThe Washington Post: "I can guarantee she'll be for abortion rights."

"I have never spoken to him … on any social issue," Sotomayor said, adding that she has "followed the law in all cases involving women's rights to terminate their pregnancy."

As a candidate, Obama said he would make "preserving a woman's right to choose under Roe v. Wade a priority" and his spokesman Robert Gibbs said when questioned about Sotomayor's position that the president was "very comfortable with her interpretation of the Constitution being similar to that of his."

In 17 years as a federal judge, Sotomayor has decided cases only on the fringes of the abortion debate. She said Wednesday that in one case, she voted to uphold a policy that barred federal funding for international groups that provide abortions.

The Southern Baptist Convention said Sotomayor "does not appear to share the pro-life values" of its 16 million members, in a letter to the two top members of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, cited Sotomayor's service as a board member of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund at a time when the organization "filed briefs in at least six prominent court cases in support of abortion rights."

Sotomayor said Tuesday that she was not involved in the preparation of those briefs as a board member.

In testimony Wednesday she said her involvement with the Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund was designed to "promote equal opportunity."

But while she refused to describe herself as a supporter of abortion rights, Sotomayor told Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., an obstetrician and outspoken abortion opponent, that the Supreme Court has affirmed a woman's "constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy in certain circumstances."

Coburn wondered whether medical technology that has improved the survival rates for extremely premature births might alter judges' views about the constitutionality of ending pregnancies.

"A lot of the decisions have been made based on viability," Coburn said, referring to the point at which a fetus can survive outside a the womb. "If we now have viability at 21 weeks, why would that not be something that should be considered as we look at the status of what can and cannot happen?"

Sotomayor was non-committal. Answering a question from Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., about how technology might change the law, Sotomayor would only say that courts rely on past precedents as they "look at how we will consider a new challenge."

"That's what precedents do," Sotomayor said. "They provide a framework. The Constitution remains the same; society changes."

Sitting in a uniformed row at the back of the audience as Sotomayor testified Wednesday: 12 New Haven firefighters, including Frank Ricci, a white firefighter who sued when the city tried to throw out the results of a test that he passed because not enough minorities scored well.

Sotomayor voted with a majority on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in upholding the city's decision. The Supreme Court reversed that decision last month.

Ricci refused to talk to reporters Wednesday morning but he's scheduled to testify in Sotomayor's confirmation hearing later this week.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., focused on a friendlier member of the audience as she began her questioning.

Klobuchar joked that she had run into Sotomayor's 82-year-old mother, Celina Sotomayor, during a break "and she has plenty of things she'd like to say."

"Senator, don't give her the chance," Sotomayor said.

Day 3: What questions do you still have for Judge Sonia Sotomayor? Pose your question in the comments section below.