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The senator stared at the Supreme Court candidate, saying, "I think we should judge you as a total person."
Are we talking about brewskis, boofing and Beach Week here?
Come on, senator! They were only teenagers.
Oops, wait. This was Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) Who had supported Ruth Bader Ginsburg at his 1993 Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
The big scandal at this hearing? Senators – almost all men – were caught off guard by Ginsburg's work in women's rights cases.
Kohl said that he was "a little confused about the tension between the somewhat restrictive role you describe for the judges and the much more dynamic role you have adopted as a lawyer," according to Audience records now cataloged at the Library of Congress.
Sigh, is that it?
That was the good old days, when the juiciest mention in the 691 pages of testimony was that of Ginsburg that she liked the movie "Sleepless in Seattle." Especially the soundtrack.
Before the devil's triangle and beer became the vocabulary of a confirmation hearing before the Supreme Court, following the sexual assault charges made against Brett M. Kavanaugh, candidate from Trump, before the candidate answers such bitter questions that he becomes a food for a hilarious "Saturday Night Live" A skit, before he tears at the mention of his father's calendar still alive, was worried about the politicization of these appointments.
It began with the rejection of Robert Bork, a Reagan candidate in 1987, and became nuclear four years later when Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by Anita Hill. Thomas was confirmed anyway.
[Christine Blasey Ford has unleashed a torrent of sexual assault stories]
In September, before the Kavanaugh calendar entitled "Tobin's House" in 1982 became a topic of discussion, Ginsburg eagerly awaited debate on Alexander Hamilton's intention in the federalist papers and the death penalty.
"It was good," said Ginsburg in a September 12 speech at George Washington University. "The current situation is wrong," she added.
Imagine what the women of the Supreme Court – Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan – must be thinking – as they watch the grueling and intellectually rigorous confirmation process that followed they turn into a frat-house circus and in a debate about the veracity and virtue of a woman.
It took the Supreme Court more than 200 years to reach this derisory level of parity, that is, three women out of eight now.
[Partisan politics and Kavanaugh’s defiant words put Supreme Court in unwelcome spotlight]
Nevertheless, the power of Ginsburg – which must surely be the most publicly celebrated of all judges sitting on the court – is remarkable. At 85, the 5-foot-1 widow is a Washington celebrity from home.
It turned out that Monday was the 25th anniversary of his inauguration – a ceremony reserved for judges and intended to welcome a new judge.
"We are all looking forward to sharing many more years with you as part of our joint appeal," said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in Ginsburg at the opening of the new court session on Monday. She smiled, according to Robert Barnes of the Washington Postbut did not answer.
Public sightings of Ginsburg, who has his own character and his own nickname, the Notorious RBG, are echoed on Twitter. Fans try to take selfies, but his bodyguard usually stops them. There are two – yes, two – biopics on her in theaters across the country this year. She wears t-shirts, license plates (RBG4ever) and even a popular tattoo. (She says she's a bit screwed by the tattoo.)
But his path to power contrasts entirely with Kavanaugh and most of the other men who sit at the seat of the federal government.
It's safe to say that Ginsburg did not play the Devil's Triangle – be it a trio or a drinking game – in his public high school in Brooklyn.
Yes, Ginsburg page of the directory has some similarities with Kavanaugh.
They were both treasurers. He's from the Keg City Club. She's "Go-Getters".
Kavanaugh played football at tony Georgetown Prep. Ginsberg whirled a stick during the less exhilarated football games of James Madison High School.
She played cello in the school orchestra, was editor of the school newspaper, secretary of the English department, and fervent fan of Nancy Drew.
What was not in the profile of the 1950's class directory of Ruth Bader? Her mother's fight against cancer during her high school years and the awful fact that her mother died on the eve of young Ruth's graduation.
Or that she was growing up regularly seeing signs saying "No dog, no Jew".
These years were not even the most extraordinary in Ginsburg.
She graduated at the top of her class in Cornell, then took time to follow her husband during his career and had a child. She went back to school as a mother, one of the nine women enrolled in Harvard law, all of whom were greeted by a dean who brought them together to ask how they felt about a man's position. .
She again followed her husband to New York, then went to law school in Columbia, where she earned her first degree in her class and could not find a job anywhere because she was a woman. He was told to apply for secretarial jobs. She does not choose the academic world.
This really means "breaking your mouth", not the Kavanaugh version drenched in beer and celebrating beach parties.
We have not even covered raising two children, helping a husband get through his own cancer (write his papers, put his children to bed), defeat his own cancer twice, and then survive the death of this love and support husband.
Oh yes, and we worked on dozens of historical cases for the American Civil Liberties Union, which then devoted more than 10 years to building consensus and moderation in the US Court of Appeals Circuit American alongside Bork and Antonin Scalia.
This is what a judge of the Supreme Court should look like.
Always think we should keep talking about boofing?
Twitter: @petulad
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