After long days of tendentious attacks from Republicans, several of whom treated Jackson less as a potential justice than as a foil for GOP talking points on crime, race and education, she emerged as pretty much the nominee everyone knew she was going in: basically decent, well-qualified, liberal and bound for a mostly party-line confirmation as the first Black female justice.

The only question left: How many more hearings, for how many more would-be justices, will the Senate hold before admitting that they’re worse than useless?

The Senate should abolish live testimony from Supreme Court nominees, in favor of alternatives that further its constitutional function of advice and consent, but have less potential for demeaning, cringeworthy political theater.

This is a radical notion, likely to meet with resistance not only from the Senate but also from a public accustomed to the idea that candidates for such a consequential lifetime position should have to go through a public “job interview.”