When the Senate Judiciary Committee begins its hearing for Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination as attorney general on Monday, the nominee will likely face a sympathetic audience. Democrats will be delighted to see a spurned nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court being rewarded with the leadership of the Department of Justice. Republicans, despite shunning Garland’s Supreme Court nomination, are impressed by his even-handed handling of cases from the bench.

Senators in both parties, however, should not fail to use this hearing as an opportunity to extract promises of transparency about the state of government surveillance. Time after time, senators sent letters asking Attorney General William Barr and his predecessors for information on the extent of warrantless surveillance and the legal basis for that surveillance. Time after time, they heard nothing back.