Sotomayor May Be Too Clumsy to Serve

Troubling ankle fracture leaves many questions about her physical dexterity

Supreme Court justices enjoy lifetime appointments, so presidents like to ensure that their lives are as long as possible. That's why they tend to nominate hale and hearty mountaineering types, sturdy people with robust complexions. It wouldn't be unreasonable for a president, in considering Supreme Court candidates, to ask each person to perform feats of strength, submit to a cardiovascular fitness test and run a few simple dexterity drills to ensure that the next justice is physically equipped for the rigors of judging and the marathon haul that is a job with the Supreme Court.

This is why it's so very troubling to learn that Judge Sonia Sotomayor tripped at the airport today and fractured her ankle. Is this delicate flower really cut from Supreme Court cloth?

Port Authority officials and U.S. Marshals were escorting Sotomayor through the USAirways terminal when she fell walking on a ramp. She complained of ankle pain but refused medical help.

Sotomayor made it to the White House before taking a detour for medical help in Washington. An X-ray found "a small fracture in her right ankle," White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

This woman is only 54 years old! Imagine what a wreck she'll be at 96 or 100 or whatever she'll live to!

And what does it say of President Obama that he did not, while he was busy investigating Sotomayor's jurisprudential philosophy and long history of rulings, that he did not bother to ask her to submit bone density scans or perform a simple tap dance routine to prove that she could move herself across a floor without breaking something?

Forget about her diabetes -- these days you're weird if you don't have it. But this clumsiness is truly cause for concern. It would be the height of irresponsibility for President Obama to consider a potential Supreme Court justice who is breaking her ankles all the time. If he truly cares about our country, he'll start looking for backups.

The famous osteopath and part-time tap dancer Sara K. Smith writes for NBC and Wonkette.

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