Ketanji Brown Jackson 

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What our country just experienced was a reminder that confirmation hearings for the U.S. Supreme Court may be worse than a Marine boot-camp. A pack of GOP hyenas, sans any sense of reasonable decorum and decency, attacked mercilessly, repetitively cutting off the nominee's words as she carefully answered their questions.

The outcome, of course, was all that Americans could have asked for—the historic confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and a faint glimmer of light that the crown of our judicial branch may actually become a bit more balanced.

Judge Jackson will be the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice and a lovely example of those qualities that fine people embrace. During days of rude, heated grilling, she was unflappable—and that was a glaring contrast to other recent confirmations.

It wasn't very long ago that Justice Brett Kavanaugh was on that same hot-seat, being grilled by Congress in one of the most colorful SCOTUS confirmation hearings ever. During Kavanaugh's hearings, poor Brettie-boy did not stand up well to the many questions on his past behavior. During a show of less-than-Supreme-Court-Justice behavior, he denied all wrong-doing, sobbed uncontrollably, cried giant crocodile tears, pleaded for his Binky, accused his accusers and played on the sympathies of his loyal spouse. There was never even a hint that he had the dignity, bearing, composure and self-control to sit on the nation's highest court.

Between his boys-will-be-boys indiscretions, drunkenness and the alleged rape of a coed, Kavanaugh was actually a pretty unlikely candidate for the Supreme Court. It simply isn't the place for bratty-fratty-snot-nosed jerks. The reality was that someone with such a clouded reputation should never have been confirmed but, despite his past bad behavior—and an unsubstantiated accusation that he was a chronic nose-picker—a friendly, politically-aligned panel sent him to the highest court.

Looking back, another confirmation failed to root-out the truth of equally despicable accusations, sending Clarence Thomas, under accusation of sexual harrasment, to the country's highest court. Had there been a reason not to believe the victim, Thomas's confirmation could have been a reasonable call. But there was no reason not to believe Anita Hill, who suffered greatly for her whistle-blowing and had nothing to gain. Thomas today still suffers from his reputation as an abuser and now as the suspect husband of Ginni Thomas, his conspiracist, insurrectionist wife.

Even Amy Coney Barrett was a compromised candidate who could not, even once, give a straight answer to those who questioned her worthiness as a justice. Unlike Jackson, she literally sidestepped every important query. Her prejudices, as well as her affiliation with an extreme religious cult, should have taken her off the SCOTUS list.

Cases heard by the court shouldn't be about a justice's religious beliefs—they must be weighed only on their merits as they apply to the law and to the intended purpose of the U.S. Constitution. Barrett, with her fanatical zealotry, is clearly not able to do that. And yet, a friendly Republican congress sailed her through a remarkably civil confirmation hearing.

Now every time SCOTUS hears a case I see a court on which at least two accused rapists and a religious whacko sit, and I wonder how that could have happened. My guess: Republicans are nastier, meaner and more ruthless than their brothers across the aisle.

Rolling forward to the year 2022, the composition of Congress has shifted a bit. And yet, battered by the offensive grilling of an unfriendly GOP contingent, Ketanji Jackson, America's first black woman to be nominated for the court, showed the dignity, maturity and patience that should be characteristic of a justice. She didn't cry, certainly never asked for her Binky and never lashed-out at her "jurors." Suddenly, after the appointments of multiple, questionable nominees, America has actually found a justice with the proper traits, and she is now scheduled to take her seat on the court.

The hearings had been largely a disgrace, and I'm not sure any justice has ever undergone such disrespect from a group of supposed gentlemen/gentleladies. Americans should be reviewing the behavior, especially the outright rudeness of a few GOP senators whose behavior was so bad, even some of their allies criticized them. It was all about politics and some, who had indicated they would support the confirmation, ended-up backing down, using excuses of Judge Jackson's convictions and sentencings as evidence that she was weak on crime.

Understandably, if the focus was meant to be placed on individual cases, there might well have been legitimate concerns. But that's not the way we assess a judge. Taken so far out of context, it is difficult to know what testimony and conditions had influenced Jackson's decisions in specific cases, so that standard was far too abstract to carry real weight in the hearings.

Americans must look at the Jackson confirmation hearings as both a triumph and failure. Her appointment should be good for all of us, but we must also worry that the GOP, which—except for Romney, Cheney, and Murkowski, bless their hearts—delivered its votes strictly down party lines. Forty-seven GOP senators voted against Jackson, despite her eminent qualifications.

It is really a shame that party affiliations have replaced substance in something as important and sacred as the lifetime appointment of a new Supreme Court justice. Regrettably, Jackson's confirmation hearings were the sad hybrid of a kangaroo court and a circus act.

I don't have an answer. But we need to find a way to keep politics out of our nation's highest court.

The author is a retired businessman, novelist, columnist, and former Vietnam-era Army assistant public information officer. He lives in Riverton, Utah with his wife, Carol, and the beloved ashes of their mongrel dog.