Ankle fracture trips up Sotomayor

The federal appeals court judge, who has been keeping a busy set of appointments with lawmakers, tripped while rushing for her plane at New York's LaGuardia Airport. The White House said she suffered a small fracture to her right ankle. Sotomayor said she would be in a hard cast for three weeks and a lighter one three weeks after that.

The injury changed the tone slightly on an otherwise high-intensity round of meetings that are part job interview for Sotomayor and part preview of a pressure-filled set of confirmation hearings.

Senator Mary L. Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat, signed Sotomayor's cast during their session. Her fellow Louisianan, Republican Senator David Vitter, had a bag of ice and a pillow on hand when the judge arrived at his office.

"I hope you all note that some Republicans are empathetic too," Vitter quipped to reporters, a humorous reference to President Obama's remark that he wanted a Supreme Court justice with "the quality of empathy" - a concept that has been roundly criticized by conservatives who counter that personal feelings and experiences have no place in a judge's decisions.

Sotomayor has set a relentless pace since her Capitol Hill debut last week. By day's end yesterday, she had met with one-third of the Senate in just four days of visits. The White House is pressing for her quick confirmation.

Sotomayor drew praise yesterday from former first lady Laura Bush, who said she was pleased Obama had nominated a woman for the Supreme Court. "I think she sounds like a very interesting and good nominee," Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "As a woman, I'm proud that there might be another woman on the court. I wish her well."

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Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee last year, returned to her job as Alaska's governor and laid low for weeks, avoiding high-profile appearances.

But she attended a major Republican fund-raiser last night and she is making the rounds of the cable talking head shows.

Unsurprisingly, she takes a rather dim view of how President Obama is doing, particularly on the economy. In an interview that aired last night on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" show, she said that the role of the federal government is "expanding at such a large degree that if Americans aren't paying attention, unfortunately our country could evolve into something that we do not even recognize. Certainly that is so far from what the founders of our country had in mind for us."

Asked whether she missed the spotlight, Palin replied: "I love my time in Alaska. At the same time though I crave, if not my voice, other voices out there being bold, being strong letting Americans know that those that are concerned about the growth of government and about national security issues, they're not alone."

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