But none of those pastimes ever claimed to be anything but entertainment, a temporary diversion for the masses.

Elevating justice was supposed to be something much, much more. It was supposed to be the way we Americans demonstrated our reverence for the rule of law and how we separated the application of the law from crass political considerations.

The hearings regarding Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson serve to demonstrate how far we have drifted from that ideal.

If the Senate confirms her, Jackson will become the first Black woman to sit on America’s high bench. Her resume is more impressive and complete than that of any justice now serving on the Supreme Court. She has been through all the chairs—practiced law, sat on the bench, taught, published, etc.—and won respect, even accolades, at every turn.

That doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be questioned.

Anyone who is being considered for a lifetime appointment to a position of power that will allow the holder to exert immense influence over the lives of all Americans should be subject to intense scrutiny.

But the questions should be serious ones.

Both the war in Ukraine and the COVID pandemic show that we are headed into an era in which issues of privacy and personal autonomy will be paramount. We have had and will continue to have in this country vigorous debates about how much access in the name of national security government should have to people’s personal information and, in the face of catastrophic health threats, how much power the state should have to dictate citizens’ choices regarding their bodies.

If I were in the U.S. Senate, I would focus whatever questioning time I had on determining where Jackson draws the line between the individual’s rights and the nation’s needs.

Both are legitimate concerns.

And to the ways this country works and the way we all live.

But that’s not what is happening now.

Instead of thoughtful discourse about serious matters, we have Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina—among others—badgering Jackson about inanities.

Hawley and Cruz, both graduates of Ivy League law schools have accused of Jackson of things they know not to be true. During the hearings, each has said things that, had he uttered them as part of a court proceeding, would have made him subject to discipline and possible disbarment.

Graham’s nonsense is even more noxious. He asked Jackson to comment on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination battle, something with which she had no part.

Worse, Graham overlooked the fact that part of the anger generated by Kavanaugh’s nomination involved Republicans’ determination to shut down the serious investigation into credible accusations of sexual misconduct by the nominee. The GOP also was determined to ram through Kavanaugh’s elevation to the bench during an election year after saying, only two years before, that such nominations were wrong, wrong, wrong.

One doesn’t get to invoke the old rules after throwing the rulebook out.

I’m not going to pretend that Democrats have clean hands in this. They don’t.

Although Republicans in general and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, in particular are the greatest offenders, both parties have made tragic contributions to degrading what should be a process held in reverence—our chance to demonstrate that free people can live within a structure of laws they have determined for themselves.

Instead, we have something worse and more demeaning than mud wrestling, roller derby or cage fighting.

That’s not entertainment.

That’s a tragedy.