As we await the Senate vote on the nomination of John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Melissa Mitchell weighed in on the behavior of senators in their questioning. In a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal published Wednesday in response to a column about the need for a dignified hearing, Mitchell wrote she originally loved C-SPAN for shining the light on lawmakers, but grandstanding for the cameras has come with that exposure. In the case of Roberts, that meant longwinded statements with “little or no time for appropriate questions.” He deserved better, she concluded, but with cameras, “the chances are nil.”
