WASHINGTON, July 14 - President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor fended off Republican attacks on Tuesday, saying “diversity on the bench is good for America” and promising rulings based on law, not racial bias.

Grilled by Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms Sotomayor – who would become the first Hispanic on the US top court – coolly explained the context for one of her most controversial comments: that a “wise Latina” might reach a better legal decision than a white man.