The story

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor Wednesday to blast Democrats for setting a start date on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.

"Sen. Leahy's decision to rush Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearing is indeed puzzling," said McConnell, R-Kentucky. "It risks resulting in a less informed hearing, and it breaks with years of tradition in which bipartisan agreements were reached and honored over the scheduling of hearings for Supreme Court nominees. And it damages the cordiality and goodwill the Senate relies on to do its business."

Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, announced Tuesday the hearings for Sotomayor would begin on July 13 -- a date that was determined, according to the GOP, without consulting Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee's ranking Republican. Read full article »

CNN's Alexander Mooney, Ed Hornick, Robert Yoon, Dana Bash and Emily Sherman contributed to this report.

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