WASHINGTON - Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor may be a shoo-in for confirmation, but South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune will be voting against her.

"I have concluded that Judge Sotomayor has consistently advanced a narrow view of the Second Amendment, providing little reasoning or explanation for her decisions, and twice has ruled that the Second Amendment is not a 'fundamental right,'" said Thune in a news release issued Monday. "This is an important distinction because the Supreme Court has made this determination a key element in deciding whether to apply parts of the Bill of Rights, such as the Second Amendment, to state and local governments."

Other Senate Republicans are divided over whether to confirm Sotomayor as the first Hispanic justice, but they aren't planning a drawn-out floor debate on her nomination.

GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee plan to block a panel vote scheduled for today, delaying the committee's action on President Barack Obama's first high court nominee until July 28. But Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican, said he thought the subsequent Senate debate on Sotomayor's confirmation could be completed in four days.

That's a standard timetable for recent Supreme Court nominees, and it underscores the GOP's intent to refrain from filibustering Sotomayor - which risks alienating Hispanic voters, a fast-growing part of the electorate - given her lopsided and growing chances of being confirmed.

Sotomayor has solid support from Senate Democrats, who control a 60-vote majority, and at least three Republicans have said publicly they intend to vote for her.

But not Thune.

"Judge Sotomayor has had seven of her 10 decisions reviewed by the Supreme Court overturned, including, most recently, Ricci v. DeStefano," he said in the release. "In this case, a three-person panel dismissed a reverse discrimination claim of 18 New Haven, Conn., firefighters who were denied promotion because too few minorities passed a promotion exam. The panel published an unusually short and unsigned opinion that adopted the lower court's ruling without adding any original analysis. Judicial and legal experts have noted this disturbing trend of avoiding or casually dismissing difficult and important constitutional issues in her rulings. The Supreme Court should not be the first time a judge tackles these difficult decisions.

"I am also concerned that Judge Sotomayor has a record of bringing her personal views into her decision-making philosophy rather than deciding cases based on precedent and fidelity to the law. Her statements during the confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee do not always match the philosophies she has expressed prior to this hearing, such as her application of foreign law."

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Judiciary Republican, predicted last week that the Senate would vote on her confirmation by early August.