Senate Judicary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have divergent ideas about when committee hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court should take place.

While admitting hearings in June would be too soon, Leahy indicated that by July he hoped to begin hearings -- particularly so Sotomayor can publicly defend herself from "some of the most vicious" attacks Leahy said he's ever seen.

The Senate is out of session for the month of August, so hearings would have to wait until September, just a month before the Supreme Court enters a new session -- and when there would be a vacancy should Sotomayor not be confirmed by then.

Sessions, who said he really enjoyed his conversation with Sotomayor, feels that July hearings would not give members of the Judiciary Committee enough time to look over her extensive record. "I hope the chairman keeps an open mind," Sessions said to a scrum of reporters waiting outside his office, as Sotomayor exited a side door on her way to her next appointment.

Asked about some of Sotomayor's comments that have stirred controversy, Leahy said, "Of course life experience shapes you," whether you're from the South Bronx or South Burlington, Vermont. Sotomayor told him that "ultimately and completely, as a judge you follow the law."