FACTBOX: Judge Sotomayor would be top court's first Hispanic

(Reuters) - Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Supreme Court, begins her confirmation hearings on Monday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sotomayor, a New York-based federal appeals court judge, is widely expected to win approval from the Democratic-controlled Senate, assuming no bombshell disclosures come out during the hearings, which are expected to last at least several days.

If confirmed, Sotomayor, 55, would become the first Hispanic justice and only the third woman on the nation's highest court. She would replace Justice David Souter, who retired at the end of June.

Following are some key facts about Sotomayor's background and rulings:

APPOINTED IN 1991, ELEVATED IN 1998

* Sotomayor was nominated as a trial judge in New York by President George Bush in 1991 in a deal with the state's U.S. senators. She was elevated to the appeals court in 1998 by President Bill Clinton.

She made headlines as a trial judge in 1995 with an order preventing Major League Baseball from using replacement players, ending a nearly year-long strike.

Before becoming a judge, she had been a prosecutor in New York for five years and then entered private law practice in 1984.

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