The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court on a nearly party-line vote Tuesday, teeing up a Senate confirmation vote next week.

The committee voted 13-6 to approve the nomination in the same cavernous hearing room in the Hart Building in which Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing took place two weeks ago. South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham joined all 12 Democrats on the panel in voting for Sotomayor.

“It is with enthusiasm and hope that I am going to vote in favor of this historic nomination,” committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy , D-Vt., said before the vote.

If confirmed as expected, Sotomayor will be the third woman and first Hispanic to serve on the high court. She will succeed retired Justice David H. Souter , a member of the narrowly divided court’s liberal bloc.

But Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the committee, said, “Based on her record as a judge and her statements, I am not able to support this nomination.” Sessions said he doesn’t believe Sotomayor can put aside her “personal opinions and biases” on the bench.

Sessions emphasized three cases in which Sotomayor participated as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit involving employment discrimination, gun rights and property rights.

The Alabama Republican criticized Sotomayor’s participation in a 2nd Circuit panel decision in the discrimination case, Ricci v. DeStefano, in which the court ruled against a group of mostly white New Haven, Conn., firefighters.

“I think she got the text of the Constitution wrong, and did so in a cursory way,” Sessions said.

In explaining his vote in favor of Sotomayor, Graham said, “I would not have chosen her, but I understand why President Obama did. I gladly give her my vote because I think she meets the qualification test that was used in [Antonin] Scalia and [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg,” referring to a conservative justice nominated in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan and a liberal named in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.

Utah Republican Orrin G. Hatch , who had never before voted against a Supreme Court nominee, did so this time. “I genuinely wrestled with this decision,” he said. However, Hatch added, “Her speeches and articles described a troubling approach to judging that her hearing testimony did not resolve as far as I was concerned.”

All 19 committee members except Minority Whip Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., made statements before the panel voted. Democrats praised Sotomayor.

“America would be well-served when Judge Sotomayor becomes Justice Sotomayor,” Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., said.

But Wisconsin Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl both lamented the trend in Supreme Court confirmation hearings in which nominees avoid answering questions about substantive legal issues and high court decisions.