A reader wonders how frequently the MSM will point out that Supreme Court confirmation hearings began as a way for Southern Democrats to impede progress on civil rights, just as the filibuster was a tool for the same Southern Democrats to do the same thing. He’s betting it won’t come up too often; I’m betting “won’t come up too often” understates the matter. He points us to this History News Network note:
Supreme Court Nominations: A confirmation hearing for the next nominee to the high court is expected in September. The surprise is that until the 1950s nominees didn’t usually testify. Hearings began not in the early Republic but in the battle over Jim Crow. In the 1950’s, the Southern Democrats who controlled the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to require every nominee to appear in person in order to grill them about Brown v. Board of Education.
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