For 33 years, the retiring Vermont senator and a top aide have quietly but doggedly been working to bind the many wounds of a war that touched the lives of nearly every Vietnamese family. This is what public service is.

The question driving Vermont’s lone congressman to run for retiring Senator Patrick Leahy’s seat: “Are we going to defend democracy?”

The Supreme Court nominee would have us believe she’s just a vessel for the law, but her rise to conservative power tells the real story.