It is not even four weeks since Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing and the confirmation hearing for her conservative replacement is already wrapping up. It has been an unprecedented and astonishing shotgun process, with Election Day and possible electoral defeat acting as the metaphorical gun to the heads of Republican senators. I agree with the majority of Americans that the nomination is illegitimate and contrary to the will of the people, not to mention contrary to Mitch McConnell’s own standards articulated in 2016.

But what of the substance of the hearing itself? On that score, Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s commitment to obfuscating her views is not without precedent. Time and time again, she refused to give her frank thoughts on settled precedents or legal questions whose answers should not be controversial. Other nominees have tried to do the same, though my impression is that Judge Barrett is the least forthcoming nominee in recent times. She, like many before her, liked to cite what they call the “Ginsburg Rule,” — referring to RBG’s confirmation mantra that she could give no hints, no previews, no forecasts — never mind that the late Justice actually testified extensively about substantive legal matters, including opining on Roe and other reproductive rights issues.

The confirmation process is increasingly empty, a kabuki exercise in which nominees dance around questions on which they were happy to hold forth even moments before the honor of being picked for the Supreme Court. As the late Senator Arlen Specter often quipped, “Nominees say only as much as they think they have to in order to be confirmed.” It can seem a game of power, not principle.

Nonetheless, even against the backdrop of this unfortunate tradition, Judge Barrett’s reticence is striking.