Nominee Wraps Up Rehearsals (Sotomayor preparing unlike Bork)

WASHINGTON — For a few hours each day for more than a week, Judge Sonia Sotomayor has sat in a small conference room in a building adjacent to the White House, fielding questions from lawyers helping her prepare for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on her nomination to the Supreme Court.

In one respect, it has been a painful experience for both her and those who have had to watch. Judge Sotomayor recently broke her ankle and has had to sit with her right leg propped up on a chair to deal with significant discomfort, said a senior Obama administration official who has taken part in the sessions. She has been taking over-the-counter medicines occasionally for the pain, White House officials said.

Judge Sotomayor will require the same kind of leg support during the hearings, officials said, though her injured leg will be largely concealed under the baize-covered table.

The process of helping acclimate a nominee to the blast of lights, public attention and senatorial inquisition has been an important part of the confirmation process since 1987, when Judge Robert H. Bork declined to submit to practice sessions. Judge Bork contended that as a federal appeals court judge and former longtime law professor, he had no need to rehearse, but he did not perform optimally at the hearing and his refusal to practice was viewed as misguided.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/12/us/politics/12prep.html?_r=1