Five things to watch for during the fourth day of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court:
5. DAVID CONE: The former major-league pitcher is scheduled to testify about Sotomayor's role in ending a nearly eight-month baseball strike that wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years. The U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction against owners on March 31, 1995.4. FRANK RICCI: The New Haven, Conn., firefighter was on the winning side of a Supreme Court race-discrimination ruling that overturned an appellate court decision in which Sotomayor participated. The hearing has brought Ricci some unwanted attention: As soon as the anti-Sotomayor side listed him as a witness, liberal groups did some digging and are now pointing out that he got his job by filing a discrimination case. 3. SEN. AL FRANKEN: The comic-turned-senator injected some levity into the hearings Wednesday and, with any luck, will do so today. But he's good for more than a laugh: Franken, virtually alone among Democrats, chastised Sotomayor for being so elusive during a frustrating question-and-nonanswer session over voter rights. "So that means you're not going to tell us?" he asked.2. AUGUST: That's when the Democratic Senate leadership plans to put Sotomayor's nomination up for a vote and almost certainly send her to the high court.1. OBAMA'S NEXT PICK: Sotomayor's hearing is less about her than it is about Democratic and Republican efforts to lay the groundwork for the possibility that Obama will some day replace a conservative justice. That could dramatically change the ideological makeup of the divided court. Sotomayor would replace Justice David Souter, who is part of the court's liberal bloc.-Ron Fournier, AP Washington bureau chief