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Thursday, Aug 6, 2009 4:07 PM UTC

GOP Sens. Voinovich, Gregg will vote for Sotomayor

As the Senate nears a vote on the nominee, she gets more Republican support

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Topics: Sonia Sotomayor, War Room,

The Senate is scheduled to vote on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court Thursday afternoon. When the vote does happen, there’ll be a fair amount of Republicans saying “aye.”

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg announced Wednesday that he’ll vote to confirm Sotomayor; Ohio Sen. George Voinovich, who’d been the last uncommitted Republican, said Thursday that he’ll vote for her as well. That means there’ll be nine Republicans, in all, crossing party lines.

Sotomayor’s confirmation is, of course, assured. There is a lingering question about the margin of victory, though, as the votes of all 60 senators who caucus with the Democrats are not assured. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, for one, has been hesitating to say what he’ll do, and he could be spooked off by the NRA’s anti-Sotomayor stance and its promise to score the confirmation vote — that is, remind its members that people like Begich bucked the pro-gun group.

Update: Begich will reportedly vote for Sotomayor.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

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