For the second time in a few months, a very well-qualified judicial nominee's not-well-thought-out decision to sign a public letter that had no practical impact has landed her in hot water. Sarah F. Russell, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in October, was confronted by Senate Judicial Committee Republicans at her hearing Nov. 1 over a letter that she and 1,608 other people signed at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020.