Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Judge Barrett to explain to those listening what it felt like to be a nominee for the Supreme Court.

The answer she gave was pretty powerful:

“I’ve tried to be on a media blackout for the sake of my mental health,” Barrett told the committee. “You can’t keep yourself walled off from everything and I’m aware of a lot of the caricatures that are floating around.”

She added: “We knew that our lives would be combed over for any negative detail. We knew that our faith would be caricatured. We knew our family would be attacked. And so we had to decide whether those difficulties would be worth it because what sane person would go through that if there wasn’t a benefit on the other side?”

Barrett continued to say that the benefit is “that I’m committed to the rule of law and the role of the Supreme Court in dispensing equal justice for all. And I’m not the only person who can do this job. But I was asked, and it would be difficult for anyone. So why should I say someone else should do the difficulty if the difficulty is the only reason to say no?”