WASHINGTON (AP) - The gun lobby is advertising against Elena

Kagan and Republican opponents are laying out their case against

her, but President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee appears

just weeks away from Senate confirmation.

Judiciary Committee Republicans are expected Tuesday to request

a one-week delay before a panel vote to send Kagan's nomination to

the full Senate. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary chairman,

has said he would grant such a request.

That would push a committee vote to next week, leaving Kagan on

track to win Senate confirmation before the Senate leaves in early

August for a monthlong break - and in time to take her seat when

the court begins a new term this fall, as Obama has asked.

Kagan, the 50-year-old who has served as the Obama

administration's solicitor general, would succeed retiring Justice

John Paul Stevens and become the fourth woman on the court, as well

as the third sitting female justice.

Democrats have more than enough votes to confirm her and

Republicans have shown no inclination to block the move through a

filibuster, although some influential outside groups are urging

them to do so.

The National Rifle Association is asking gun owners to urge

senators to oppose Kagan or filibuster her confirmation. The

pro-gun rights group said Monday that it planned to begin

circulating a Web advertisement comparing Kagan's answers on gun

issues at her confirmation hearings with those of Obama's first

high court nominee, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who they contend

misled senators last year about her support for the right to bear

arms.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who announced his opposition to Kagan

the day after her hearings ended, laid out his case against her in

a magazine piece Monday. Writing in the conservative National

Review, Hatch said she has a political background and activist

judicial philosophy that make her ill-suited for the Supreme Court.