WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said Monday that her hotly disputed judicial philosophy is, in fact, quite simple: Remain faithful to the law.





Judge Sonia Sotomayor speaks Monday to the Senate panel considering her nomination to the Supreme Court.





"In the past month, many senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy," Sotomayor told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during her opening statement at her confirmation hearings.





"It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make law, it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record ... reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms, interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress's intent and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and by my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand."





Sotomayor said the "process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged."





That, she noted, "is why I generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then explaining why a contrary position, sympathetic or not, is accepted or rejected. That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our judicial system."  Watch Sotomayor talk about her judicial philosophy »





Sotomayor argued that her "personal and professional experiences help [her] listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case."  Watch Sotomayor's remarks to the Senators »





Some of Sotomayor's critics have argued that she has allowed her rulings to be swayed by factors such as ethnicity and race.





Sotomayor, a federal appellate judge, would be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court if her nomination is approved by the Judiciary Committee and the full Senate. She would be the 111th person to sit on the nation's highest court, and the third woman justice.  Watch Sotomayor take the oath »





Sotomayor, her foot in a cast from breaking her ankle a week after President Obama nominated her in May, sat impassively as senators detailed a deep divide between majority Democrats and minority Republicans on whether she is the best choice to fill the vacancy left by Justice David Souter's retirement.





In an emotional moment in the beginning of her remarks, Sotomayor singled out her mother, who attended the hearing.





"I am here today because of her aspirations and sacrifices," she said. "Mom, I love that we are sharing this together."  Watch Sotomayor credit her mother »





The first Supreme Court confirmation hearing of the Obama presidency began Monday with leading Democrats and Republicans signaling a fierce ideological debate over Sotomayor's qualifications to sit on the high court. It attracted a packed gallery and was disrupted three times by protesters shouting anti-abortion sentiments.





Democrats praised Sotomayor's extensive experience as a judge, which they called the most by any Supreme Court nominee in a century. They insisted her record showed she has been a modest jurist who consistently applied the rule of law.





"Judge Sotomayor's journey to this hearing room is a truly American story," committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, said after gaveling the first session to order. "Let no one demean this extraordinary woman."





Leahy also ripped conservative "ideological pressure groups" for "distorting" Sotomayor's record and opposing a woman who "will be a justice for all Americans."  He noted she was first nominated to the federal bench by a Republican president, George H.W. Bush.   Watch Leahy praise Sotomayor »





However, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the committee's ranking Republican, said Sotomayor represents the kind of activist judge that threatens the traditional foundation of the U.S. legal system.





Sessions, a former attorney general in his home state, challenged the attribute of empathy cited by President Obama in nominating Sotomayor.





"Call it empathy, call it prejudice, call it sympathy -- whatever it is, it is not
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Remain faithful to the law. Sotomayor represents the kind of activist judge that threatens the traditional foundation of the U.S. legal system. Democrats Remain faithful to the law. American story,"
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