NEW YORK, NY July 13, 2009 —The questions don't start until tomorrow, but opening remarks at the Senate Judiciary Committee today will set the tone for this week's confirmation hearings for judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who will introduce Sotomayor today, says she plans to highlight the judge's wealth of experience.

GILLIBRAND: Seventeen years of judicial record is an extraordinary amount of experience, more experience than any judge on the Supreme Court today has had when they were first nominated, so I think she brings a lot to the table.

REPORTER: Gillibrand predicts Sotomayor will be overwhelmingly confirmed, with close to 70 votes. Democrats hold a filibuster-resistant, 60-vote majority in the Senate.

You can find gavel-to-gavel coverage of the hearing streamed live at wnyc.org. And each night this week we’ll bring you NPR’s special coverage of the day’s proceedings at 8pm, on AM 820 WNYC.