At the moment I attended Decide Jackson’s affirmation listening to for about thirty minutes within the morning, and for about an hour within the afternoon. It was my first Supreme Court docket affirmation listening to. It is hanging to suppose that within the span of a decade, between 1994 and 2005, we had zero Supreme Court docket affirmation hearings. And since 2016, we now have had 4 Supreme Court docket affirmation hearings.

For these watching on TV, you could have seen that the room was filled with spectators. What could not have been clear was that each attendee was both Senate employees, or a visitor of a Senator. There was no basic admission line. Tickets have been handed out by Senate workplaces for thirty minute increments. And each thirty minutes, the attendees rotated out. The upshot of that coverage is that each visitor was screened, rigorously. There was no potential for disruption like in the course of the Kavanaugh hearings.

Beneath the Senate’s COVID coverage, members of the general public can solely enter the constructing if escorted by a Senate staffer. Previously, the general public might enter a Senate constructing for any motive or no motive in any respect. I requested a Capitol Police Officer when that coverage could be relaxed. He joked, and stated by no means.

I used to be in a position to watch questioning from Senators Leahy, Cruz, Coons, Sasse, Blumenthal, Hawley, and Hirono. There have been some fireworks throughout Cruz’s time, which I am unsure have been absolutely captured on digicam.

Pictures have been prohibited in the course of the listening to, however I used to be in a position to get an image of Decide Jackson strolling out throughout a break. She is within the blue gown.