Today at 9:30 am ET, Sonia Sotomayor returns to the Senate Judiciary Committee to continue the confirmation hearings for her nomination to the Supreme Court. So far, Sotomayor has not garnered too many favorable reviews for her performance yesterday, the first time America got to see Sotomayor in action. Today should be easier for Sotomayor, though, as the Republicans undoubtedly fired their biggest guns in the first round of questioning:

Today, the hearings should progress past Sotomayor and onto the witness list for the committee. These should provide some fireworks and sound bites, but mainly consist of people submitting either character references for the nominee, or advocacy groups testifying against her. For the most part, it will be a rehash of policy positions with little connection to Sotomayor herself.

If the panel gets to Frank Ricci today, the New Haven firefighter denied a promotion in part because of Sotomayor will lend some drama to the hearings. Don’t expect tough questioning of Ricci from either Republicans or Democrats, though. The Democrats have nothing to gain from attacking Ricci. They’ll universally praise his service to his community and the manner in which he overcame dyslexia to succeed. They don’t need to demonize Ricci in order to get Sotomayor confirmed, and so Ricci should have a pleasant day in the national spotlight.

Andrew Malcolm and his partners at Top of the Ticket have done a great job in live-blogging the hearings. Keep up with the transcripts at ToT.