Its is almost certain that Sonia Sotomayor will be the next Supreme Court Justice. It is also certain that Republicans are spent. The hearings were very civil and it was pretty clear early on, that Republicans didn't have anything of substance to try to derail her nomination. 
Earlier today, Sen Lugar(R) said: "Judge Sotomayor is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and she has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination hearing. Judge Sotomayor has had a distinguished career of public service. She is well regarded in the legal community and by her peers. I will vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States."
Two more republicnas senators, Olympia Snowe (R) and Mel Martínez, the only hispanic republican senator, announced their support as well. Martinez said: "Given her judicial record, and her testimony this week, it is my determination that Judge Sotomayor is well-qualified to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court."
Are the boyz coming around? Mayor Bloomberg himself in Washington to support Sotomayor said: "I strongly believe she should be supported by Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. And I should know, because I've been all three."
The hearings were taken as very useless for some, as instructive for others, generally in a positive tone. One can certainly understand the frustration with a process that doesn't allow much in terms of real discussion and understanding. Nonetheless, the hearings give us a glance, a better understanding of the res public. It does engage citizens.
The use of gender and racial politics dominated the hearings. GOPers playing their part. The media and progressive bloggers went after this GOP tactic.
Peggy Drexler on HuffPost speaks a this bias: Gender and the Judge: Sotomayor Encounters a Familiar Bias.  Maureen Dowdfrom the NYT in White Man’s Last Stand , seems to be having fun writing that "A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not know that a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction are out to trip her up."  Sotomayor kept clear of any tricks. Smart Latina. hehe.
Gail Collins ( NYT)is also having fun: Day after day she gives us some bits of conversation from the hearing, with the real meaning of it, I guess. In 3 Days of the Sotomayor :

"SENATOR RUSS FEINGOLD: Judge Sotomayor, if confirmed, you will join the Supreme Court with more federal judicial experience than any justice in the past 100 years. And, therefore, I will devote my time to complaining about the way the Bush administration pummeled our civil liberties.

SENATOR ORRIN HATCH:Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to point out that we once had a Hispanic nominee for something, and the Democrats filibustered him."
Wonkette goes after the GOP in: Republicans Just Give Up On Sotomayor :' Having failed to provoke a “meltdown” or a comical Rosie Perez-style torrent of Spanish invective, GOP senators have run out of options and may just have to let this one through. 
A discordant note was Linda Chavez who came out in strong opposition to Sotomayor's nomination. As per The Hill : "Do not vote to confirm this nominee," Chavez said. "It is clear from Judge Sotomayor's record that she has drunk deep from the well of identity politics. I know a lot about that well, and I can tell you that it is dark and poisonous… Judge Sotomayor has repeatedly said that race, ethnicity and gender are determinants of one's point of view.". Siempre hay un agufiestas, te digo. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellis another one, but then everyone expects that.

La prensa hispana ha estado al frente de la covertura de la nominación de Sotomayor. Resaltando el balance positivo de la confirmación podemos escuchar las protestas por la táctica racial que senadores republicanos intentaron usar. El Diario La Prensa de Nueva York publica esta nota editorial de Dolores Prida: 'Latina sabia, sureños lerdos'. Bueno, ya se imaginan:

"El espectáculo de un grupo de senadores sureños blancos, expresándose con fuerte acento regional y en un lenguaje combativo arropado en condescendencia, tratando de caracterizar a una latina como racista y prejuiciada fue más que patético. Fue el colmo de la hipocresía y una manifestación preocupante del futuro de la nación. Estos senadores representan estados que tienen la deshonrosa distinción de haber utilizado la esclavitud, la segregación y el prejuicio racial como arma política y económica desde la fundación de los Estados Unidos de América hace 233 años hasta hace solo unas cuatro décadas." En una nota más optimista el mismo diario afirma: "Sonia Sotomayor prácticamente selló ayer su entrada en la historia como la primera magistrada latina del Tribunal Supremo durante su última comparecencia ante el Senado, en la que recibió elogios de algunos republicanos."
Este optimismo se extiende a la mayoria de los latinos y a la mayoria de las estadounidenses. Y quienes están celebrando en grande? Todos en el Bronx! celebrando por que ‘Este es nuestro Super Bowl’

See what I mean? All Good. Want to go deeper?  NYT Topics: Sonia Sotomayor
Well, confirmation is almost assured. Obama called her 'inspiring', others a Trailblazer and a Dreamer
As for me, I hope Sotomayor to be a force to bring positive change. Progressive change.

I wanted to share this article with you all.I read it at the HuffingtonPost We need to re-double our efforts to make sure more Latinos get the best education and the best possibilities. Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Carola Suarez-Orozco, Co-Founders of the Harvard Immigration Projects and Co-Directors of Immigration Studies at NYU wrote this piece. Let me know what your thoughts are after you read the article.

"President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is inviting glossy-eyed "only in America" commentary domestically and throughout the world. But as the likely confirmation storm gathers force, biography will surely be pitted against ideology. To her opponents Judge Sotomayor's judicial philosophy -- particularly her flirtation with identity politics -- raises red flags of judicial activism and the impulse to legislate from the bench. To her supporters, the President above all, biography trumps everything else.
The President's choice embodies a powerful life history of triumph over considerable adversity: a child of Puerto Rican working class immigrants, Judge Sotomayor went from the housing projects in the Bronx where she grew up, via Catholic School, and the most exclusive of Ivies (Princeton and Yale Law School) into the pinnacle of American legal power. While many are celebrating her journey - above all Latinos for whom her story captures the dreams and ambitions of America's largest yet still strangely invisible minority, the nomination should also be a cause for concern. Plotting Judge's Sotomayor journey against the realities of most Latinos and Latinas reveals just how much the Obama administration will need to do to bring the promise of the American Dream to the vast majority of the over 46 million Latinos (now 15 percent of the population and projected to reach thirty percent by 2050).

Although some Latinos, especially Latinas, are successfully navigating the American educational system, the majority are struggling academically and leaving schools without acquiring the skills necessary to function in the new unforgiving global economy. Nationwide Latinos represent nearly 25 percent of public school students in kindergarten through 12th grade. They have the highest high school dropout rates and the lowest college attendance rates of all racial/ethnic groups. Many will face lives at or below the poverty level laboring at the lowest echelons of our increasingly competitive economy.more