Even before Thursday's explosive Senate hearing, polls showed a majority of Americans had already turned against President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

But when it comes to matters before the Senate, popular opinion doesn't count. By design, the founders gave states with small populations the same weight as big states in the deliberative body. Proportional representation was left to the House.

On Thursday, Kavanaugh's nomination was the subject of nearly nine hours of dramatic, emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee from Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were high school students in Maryland in 1982.