Supreme Court justices serve for life or until voluntary retirement, which makes a nominee’s confirmation hearings a weighty occasion. The Senate Judiciary Committee is charged with asking questions and demanding documents that will show whether nominees have the temperament, character, and intellect to be the nation’s final arbiters on law and the Constitution.

Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings begin Tuesday, and it’s highly doubtful that senators will treat the occasion as they should. They are unlikely to ask Kavanaugh the questions that need asking and likely to ask others that they should not. Some Republicans may abdicate their responsibility to vet Trump’s nominee rigorously, and most Democrats seem likely to turn the hearings into demagogic pro-abortion rallies for the sake of electoral politics.