From Great American Conservative Women, published by the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, p. 85:

On the basis of her habit of apologizing to criminals during sentencing, District Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor had earned wide acclaim as a “centrist” long before Clinton elevated her to a federal appeals court. While sentencing one drug-dealer, she said, “[W]e all understand that you were in part a victim of the economic necessities of our society, unfortunately there are laws that I must impose.”
She told another convicted drug trafficker, “It is no comfort to you for me to say that I am deeply, personally sorry about the sentence I must impose, because the law requires me to do so. The only statement I can make is that this is one more example of an abomination being committed before our sight. You do not deserve this, sir.”

The “abomination” comment may be hyperbolic, but it seems there was a legitimate issue in the dispute; a police detective lying to obtain a search warrant in a 1993 drug case. At Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing in 1997, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) grilled her about that statement, suggesting it showed disrespect for the law. Sotomayor conceded that she should not have said “abomination.”

Having said that, I’ll be interested in hearing the nominee’s thoughts on how drug dealers are victims of the economic necessities of our society.