Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., smiles during the confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Sotomayor laughs during opening remarks by Leahy. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The man charged with keeping order in Hart 216 has managed to slip in a joke or two. After returning from a 10-minute break, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said to Sonia Sotomayor: "You may have a broken ankle, but you made it back to the hearing room before me." Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., may be thinking the same thing: His seat remained empty this morning.

To be sure, though, Leahy is also keeping order. When a protester yelled out "abortion is murder" during the opening remarks of Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., police quickly ushered him out and Leahy declared, "No outbursts are allowed in this committee, either for or against the nominee, or for or against any position. This is a hearing in the United States Senate. We will have order."