The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor began Monday. Senate Judiciary Committee Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham says he wants some answers.

“To make sure the judge understands the difference between interpreting the law and making the law, and that she will not be an activist wearing a robe, and to probe in to some of the speeches she’s made in judicial rulings, particularly in the War on Terror and the Second Amendment,” says Graham.

Graham said Monday at the hearing, if he would have said some of the statements that Sotomayor has said in the past, he would no longer be in office. Graham referred to a comment Sotomayor made in a 2001 speech, in which she said a “wise Latina” would be a better judge than a white male.

“That just bothers me that when somebody wearing a robe, takes the robe off and says that their experience makes them better than someone else. I think your experience can add a lot to the court, but I don’t think it makes you better than someone else,” says Graham.

Graham says Sotomayor will be confirmed unless she has a “complete meltdown,” which he does not think will happen. He says he was not ready to announce his decision on how he will vote. Other Republican critics say they are disturbed by President Obama’s call for ‘empathy’ when looking in to Sotomayor’s background.

If confirmed, Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.