By Mark Memmott

"I was very impressed with her knowledge, her experience, her energy level," the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee just told reporters after having his get-acquainted meeting with Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., added, though, that he and Sotomayor did not have an extensive discussion about whether she would be an "activist" justice (something Sessions and other conservatives do not want to see).

"I don't think I exhausted that question at all today," said the senator.

As for comments from conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., who have called Sotomayor a "racist" because of things she's said about Latina women possibly making wiser decisions than white men, Sessions said "I will not use that kind of language."

"The right thing to do is ask what the law is ... and not use those pejorative terms," he added.

Also today, the Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee met with Sotomayor. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Associated Press reports:

Said he's eager to give Sotomayor the chance to respond to "unbelievable attacks" by Republican critics like Limbaugh and Gingrich.
"It pretty well demands that she has a hearing earlier than later," Leahy told reporters on his way to meet with Sotomayor.

1:17 - June 2, 2009

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