At the end of the four consecutive days of Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing, a maskless Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., reached across the aisle to give Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a bear hug.

“This has been one of the best sets of hearings that I’ve participated in, and I want to thank you for your fairness,” she told the chairman in her concluding remarks. “It leaves one with a lot of hopes, a lot of questions, and even some ideas perhaps of good bipartisanship legislation we can put together.”

Feinstein now faces calls from her own party and outside groups like Demand Justice and NARAL Pro-Choice America to step down as the committee’s top Democrat, all due to the praise for Graham.

Feinstein’s gesture provided a stark contrast to the confirmation hearing that occurred in the same room just two years earlier. No such hugs made headlines when lawmakers wrapped up the initial hearing for now–Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

To call the confirmation process for Kavanaugh rancorous would probably be the understatement of 2018. But Barrett’s smooth hearing—the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance her nomination to the full Senate—seemed to be an outlier in 2020, a year when nearly every other major political story comes with the modifier “unprecedented.”

Barrett’s hearing included one unprecedented aspect: the backdrop of COVID-19. 

She will reach results that some of us will criticize, maybe even disdain. We have seen this before, and we will see it again.

Two years ago, an unremitting line of spectators took turns sitting in rows at the back of the hearing room to witness history. Some supported Kava­naugh. Detractors unfurled banners and signs they’d smuggled under jackets or in purses and stood to yell chants. 

The protests seemed to unnerve Kavanaugh. He’d often take a quick gulp of water as police removed demonstrators behind him. Capitol Hill police arrested over 200 protesters during the hearing. After accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Kavanaugh, protesters confronted lawmakers in the hallways.

But Barrett’s hearing was calm. The Capitol has been closed to visitors for months. Inside the hearing room, reporters, photographers, lawmakers, and staff mostly adhered to social distancing protocols. Most lawmakers wore masks, except while speaking. At press stakeouts outside the room, yellow signs marked the required 6 feet of distance between people. Lawmakers seeking to avoid questions had a much easier time slipping out of reach: New coronavirus regulations banned “walk and talks,” where reporters follow lawmakers to their next destination and press them with questions.

Concerned citizens, both for and against Barrett’s confirmation, had to stay outside the Capitol. On the third day of the hearing, a group of young women with Students for Life toted signs in front of the Supreme Court building in support of Barrett. They said they see her nomination as a pro-life success story: She and husband Jesse show that having children doesn’t stand in the way of a woman achieving professional success. 

California resident John Bjornstad told me he opposed Barrett’s confirmation because of two words: “Merrick Garland.” Republicans moving in an election year to confirm Trump’s nominee when they had refused even to meet with President Barack Obama’s replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat in 2016 convinced Bjornstad that “hypocrisy will be the legacy of the GOP.”