Confirmation hearings start Monday for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s nominee to replace the now-retired David Souter on the panel. Utah State University political science professor Mike Lyons said he thinks the nomination has many members of the Republican Party tied up in knots. He said Sotomayor would be the first Latino to hold a post in the highest level of government in the United States, and that is very important to members of the Latino community who are proud of her accomplishments.”I’m sure they would be tempted to see Republican opposition to Sotomayor as an insult and perhaps as ethnically or even racially motivated,” Lyons said of the interpretation Latinos may have to Republican opposition to the nomination. Lyons said he expects Sotomayor to be confirmed with ease, with about 80 or 90 votes coming through.