Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor faced a second round of questions Wednesday from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Many queries dealt with abortion, gun rights, education and racial prejudice.

The first session, which gave each committee member a half-hour for questioning, ended after 3 p.m. Sotomayor then had a private meeting with committee members, where they reviewed the Bronx native's FBI background check.

A second round of questions started around 3:30 p.m., which allowed each committee member 20 minutes for questioning. Some members will continue questioning when the fourth day of hearings starts at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

Throughout the session she kept a measured and calm tone.

Among those at Wednesday's hearing were 15 New Haven firefighters whose lawsuit against the city and Sotomayor's ruling on the case has been an issue of contention. She sided with the city in the racial discrimination case. The ruling was later overturned by the Supreme Court. Two of the firefighters are scheduled to give testimony Thursday.

Earlier in the morning, the subject of abortion took center stage during the questioning by Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas.

Sotomayor told Cornyn that President Barack Obama, who nominated her for the Supreme Court in May, never asked her about her stance on abortion.

Coburn asked Sotomayor to answer how she would rule on many hypothetical cases and inquired whether she thought technological improvements on neonatal care would have any baring on the current Roe v. Wade ruling.

"Should viability? Should technology be at any time considered as we discuss with these very delicate issues on so many people. And your answer is you can't answer," said Coburn.

"I can't because that's not a question the court reaches out to answer," responded Sotomayor. "That's a question that gets created by a state regulation of some sort or an action by the state that may or may not place, according to some claimant, place an undue burden on her."

Cornyn also spoke about the split critics see between the judge's bench rulings and statements she's made about the role of ethnicity and gender play in decision making. He specifically hammered her on her now-famous "wise Latina" comment. In a 2001 speech, she said a "wise Latina" might make better judgments than a white male.

"What I'm confused about. Are you standing by that statement? Or are you saying that was a bad idea? Or are you disavowing that statement?" asked the Texas senator.

"It is clear from the attention my words have gotten. And the manner in which it has been understood by some people, that my words failed. They didn't work," she responded.

Senator Arlen Specter, a Republican turned Democrat who questioned Sotomayor this afternoon, said he thinks too much has been made of the statement. He did, however, seem frustrated by her unwillingness to respond directly to many of his questions.

He also hit upon the limitations of these Senate confirmation hearings.

"Is there anything the Senate or Congress can do, if a nominee says one thing while sitting at that table and then goes across the street and does something else?" asked Specter. "That, in fact, is one of the beauties of our constitutional system. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

If approved, Sotomayor would become the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told NY1 that Sotomayor was destined for legal greatness, ever since he hired her out of law school.

"I think she's highly qualified in every respect," said Morgenthau. "And she'll be the only member of the Supreme Court, if confirmed, that's had experience in the state court system."

He said Sotomayor's years of experience with the district attorney's office will provide the high court with a needed and unique perspective.