As a conservative former Texas Supreme Court justice, Mr. Cornyn might be expected to make a tough intellectual case against Judge Sotomayor. But as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he also has to worry about how the confirmation battle plays across the nation. And his own future back home is tied somewhat to Hispanics who will be closely watching the confirmation proceedings.  Elected to a second term last fall in a difficult year for his party, Mr. Cornyn said he saw no conflict among his ideological leanings, his responsibility for boosting Republican Senate candidates and his own home-state interests.  He also said he would press to define the contours of Judge Sotomayor’s legal philosophy and remind Americans that Democrats were not alone in trying to put a Hispanic jurist in line for the Supreme Court.  “I will bet there are a lot of people who don’t really remember Miguel Estrada,” Mr. Cornyn said, referring to the Honduran-born federal appeals court nominee put forward by President George W. Bush. Mr. Estrada was considered likely to be a future Supreme Court nominee before his nomination to the appeals court was blocked by a Democratic filibuster in 2003.  An imposing 6 feet 4 inches tall, Mr. Cornyn manages to combine congeniality with combativeness. He often takes to the Senate floor to joust with Democrats, though in a lawyerly way befitting his experience as a judge and an attorney general.  But he did not hold back against those in his own party who made what he saw as harmful and overly personal criticism of Judge Sotomayor in the first few days after her selection.  Attention quickly focused on a 2001 speech in which Judge Sotomayor suggested that a Latina judge might have better judgment than a white male judge. Mr. Gingrich, among other critics, asserted that the remark showed her to be racist.  “I just think that was the wrong way to start the discussion,” Mr. Cornyn said.  His words evidently carried some weight. As Judge Sotomayor made a second day of rounds in the Senate on Wednesday, Mr. Gingrich dialed back his accusation, writing on his Web site that “the word ‘racist’ should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a person, even if her words themselves are unacceptable.”  “I think it speaks well of Newt,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who met with Judge Sotomayor and said he did not believe she was racist. “There is no evidence of that.”  But in a sign that Republicans will not easily fall in line on the nomination, Mr. Graham said he remained troubled by her comments and painted himself as a likely vote against her.  As Democrats push for confirmation hearings next month, they see Mr. Cornyn and his fellow Republicans struggling with a delicate political balance, wanting to put tough scrutiny on Judge Sotomayor without alienating Hispanics.  “He is in a difficult situation, and he is trying to figure it out,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the former chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, who said Mr. Cornyn sometimes picked his brain in the Senate gym.  Despite his conservative credentials, Mr. Cornyn finds himself at odds with some on the right over more than just the tone of the nomination fight. He is also under fire for the way he is carrying out his responsibilities as chairman of the Senate Republican campaign operation.  His decision to back Gov. Charlie Crist over a more conservative Republican for the Senate nomination in Florida and his courting of party moderates like Representative Michael N. Castle of Delaware for a Senate run there have drawn scorn from some conservatives, who accuse him of watering down the brand.  Mr. Cornyn makes no apologies, saying he bases political decisions on a simple premise: “I want to win, and I don’t think the Republican Party wins becoming more and more insular.”  Mr. Cornyn argues that Republicans desperately need to become more inclusive, a factor that drove him to challenge the attacks on Judge Sotomayor and helps govern his view of the nomination. He said that he was all for a close examination of the nominee, but that scrutiny must focus on her judicial philosophy, qualifications and record, not her ethnicity or sex.  “She certainly has a distinguished career,” Mr. Cornyn said. “The real question is how she views her role as a judge: whether it is to advance causes or groups or whether it is to call balls and strikes.”  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Balancing Act for Republican On Supreme Court Nominee. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Senator John Cornyn personifies the competing pressures Republicans face as they sort through how to handle the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor.