Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has been issuing increasingly fierce solo dissents attacking her colleagues on the Supreme Court — and Justice Alito finally fired back in writing, joined by Thomas and Gorsuch, calling her dissent baseless and insulting in language that has never been used quite so directly between sitting Supreme Court justices.

One legal observer put it plainly — Jackson attacks their integrity, attacks their credibility and attacks their good faith — and after months of absorbing it silently, Alito decided the time for silence was over. Biden freely admitted he did not search for the most qualified candidate — and what is unfolding on the nation’s highest court right now is being called the direct consequence of that decision.