WASHINGTON - Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court remains in limbo: the Senate Judiciary Committee has pushed the vote on her confirmation into next week and will cast ballots next Tuesday.

Despite the delay, Sen. Richard Leahy, D-Vt., said he is positive the Supreme Court nominee will clear the Senate confirmation hurdle in committee with ease.

“We all know that judge Sotomayor will be confirmed,” the Judiciary chairman said during a hearing Tuesday. The proceeded to tick off the tasks Sotomayor will have to handle: moving to Washington, setting up her office, hiring her clerks, all before the Supreme Court meets in September – an unusually early start -- to hear a case involving the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

“She will be on the Supreme Court,” Leahy said after the Senate Judiciary Committee met, adding, “If the vote was just on merit, it would be an extremely high vote.”

Republicans on the committee delayed the vote by invoking their right to request more time.

Despite Leahy’s optimism, not everyone is siding with the chairman. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., put himself firmly in the “No” column. Speaking to the sparsely attended Senate on Monday, McConnell took aim at what he called the “empathy standard” as well as Sotomayor’s track record on a case overturned by the Supreme Court.

On empathy, McConnell said “empathy is good if you are the person or group the judge has empathy for.”

On Sotomayor’s judicial judgment, McConnell noted the Supreme Court overturned the decision in New Haven firefighter case, Ricci vs. DeStefano. McConnell said even though the court split on the decision 5-4, “All nine justices said in the Ricci case that [Judge Sotomayor’s] reading of the law was flawed.” The decision itself makes no mention of Sotomayor.

Sotomayor defended her role in the discrimination case during last week’s hearings, saying she was part of a panel of judges who came to a conclusion. Sotomayor also defended the precedent the panel used in the Ricci case, saying the Supreme Court chose to use a different standard, meaning her court did not diverge from Supreme Court precedent.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called McConnell’s Senate floor speech about Sotomayor “thoughtful.”