Sotomayor "is an inspiring woman who I believe will make a great justice," Obama said at a White House announcement.

She "has worked at almost every level of our judicial system, providing her with a depth of experience and a breadth of perspective that will be invaluable as a Supreme Court justice," he added.

Obama said Sotomayor would bring more experience on the bench than anyone currently serving on the Supreme Court when appointed.

"Thank you, Mr. President, for the most humbling honor of my life," Sotomayor said. She thanked family members and mentors who helped her throughout her life and career.

The president met with Sotomayor at the White House for an hour Thursday, according to senior administration officials.

He was impressed with Sotomayor's personal story and professional qualifications after meeting her, but he did not immediately offer her the job, two senior administration sources added.

But a yes vote then doesn't necessarily mean a yes vote now.

"I'd say the stakes are higher for the Supreme Court," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Obama will soon nominate a successor to Justice David Souter, who has announced he will retire next month. The people Obama is considering include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, U.S. Appeals Court Judges Diane Wood and Sonia Sotomayor and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, according to officials familiar with the president's thinking.

Of that list, all but Granholm have been voted on before by the Senate and all have been confirmed with Republican votes. Wood and Napolitano got votes from every Republican in the chamber when they came before the Senate.

Wood sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on an unanimous vote, and her nomination for the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago cleared the Senate without an objection as part of a package of nominees the Senate confirmed in 1995 before heading out for the Fourth of July holiday.

In February, the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the law as a free speech violation that could limit minors' access to other material under the guise of protecting children. The court said there are less restrictive ways, such as parental control, to prevent children from accessing violent video games.

The court also dismissed as unpersuasive the scientific studies linking violent video games to aggressive and anti-social behavior.

The state Legislature passed the law in 2005, but it never took effect because the video game industry sued soon after Schwarzenegger signed the measure that would have barred sales and rentals to anyone under the age of 18.

The governor and attorney general argued Wednesday that the same legal justifications for banning minors from accessing pornography can be applied to violent video games.

Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of Adam Cuomo of Hagersville, Ontario, and Quinton Broussard of Carrollton, Texas.

The FBI says Cuomo, 31, incriminated himself during an interview in December 2006. Authorities also have recordings of phone calls between him and Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights.

In December 2005, the talk turned to how a reluctant basketball player had agreed to shave points.

"Cuomo responded by saying that money will overcome all," FBI agent Stephen Ferrari said in a court document unsealed last month.

Cuomo is charged with conspiring with Manni, Mitchell "Ed" Karam and others to fix the results of Toledo football and basketball games, from late 2004 through 2006.

He met Manni through the owner of a phone shop in Toledo, Ohio, the FBI says.

U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Lagueux (LAH'-guh) ruled Wednesday the defendants cannot set aside the judgment against them because they didn't respond to the accusations from the victims' family.

The lawsuit was filed in Providence by relatives of Yaron Ungar (YAH'-rohn UNG'-er) and his wife, Efrat. The Ungars were killed by Hamas gunmen near the West Bank in June 1996. Yaron Ungar also held Israeli citizenship.

The lawsuit said the Palestinian Authority and the PLO offered a safe haven to members of Hamas.

The defendants have denied responsibility.

"The president is free to nominate whomever he likes," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "But picking judges based on his or her perceived sympathy for certain groups or individuals undermines the faith Americans have in our judicial system."

McConnell's Republicans are turning to a conservative Southerner as their point man on Obama's nominee, signaling that they won't shy away from a protracted fight despite risks of being cast as obstructionist.

Sen. Jeff Sessions' ascension as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee comes more than 20 years after the panel rejected him for his own federal judgeship during the Reagan administration over concerns that he was hostile toward civil rights and was racially insensitive.

Coincidentally, Sessions, R-Ala., replaces Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, a moderate who was one of just two Republicans in 1986 to oppose Sessions as a U.S. district court judge. Specter left the GOP last week to become a Democrat, creating the vacancy atop the committee just as Justice David Souter announced his retirement.