A couple of Democrats made some interesting statements about past nominations to the Supreme Court.

First, it was Senator Dick Durbin:

I'm gonna be first to admit, as I look back in history, there are things that should have been handled better when Republican [SCOTUS] nominees were before us.

Then it was Senator Chris Coons talking to Margaret Hoover:

I will own that I'm a part of this problem.

Well, it's not a total apology, but we are talking in the right direction. I am not sure if Mrs. Kavanaugh or Mrs. Thomas or Mrs. Alito will accept it, but at least we are saying things should have been handled better.

My guess is that we've seen the last of the crazy nomination process. We can thank the anticipated end of Roe v. Wade for that. As David Brooks wrote back when Samuel Alito was nominated in 2005:

When Blackmun wrote the Roe decision, it took the abortion issue out of the legislatures and put it into the courts. If it had remained in the legislatures, we would have seen a series of state-by-state compromises reflecting the views of the centrist majority that's always existed on this issue. These legislative compromises wouldn't have pleased everyone, but would have been regarded as legitimate.

Instead, Blackmun and his concurring colleagues invented a right to abortion, and imposed a solution more extreme than the policies of just about any other comparable nation.

Once abortion is out of the discussion, then the Senate Democrats won't feel under such pressure to look for yearbook posts or parties 37 years before. Once abortion goes back to the states, then the fights will be at the legislatures rather than every time a GOP president nominates a judge to the Supreme Court.

Again, none of this is going to make Mrs. Kavanaugh happy, but at least the worst is behind us. I certainly hope so.

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Image: Thomas Hawk.