At times, it appeared as though Senators Ben Sasse, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn were tearing up. Graham nodded amens to Brett Kavanaugh as the judge detailed the toll that the scrutiny and allegations have taken on his family. There’s seemingly more than performative indignation here on the part of Republicans—they are genuinely upset that Kavanaugh has to answer for these accusations in public. But that’s the confirmation process we have and the process they’ve chosen to stick with—doggedly, without delays or shifting course for an F.B.I. investigation. The Democrats were, by contrast, as steely as the Republicans had been during Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony, particularly Senators Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, who were seated together and gave Kavanaugh, through his tears, prosecutorial gazes.