Georgia Supreme Court Justice Britt Grant, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, sailed through her U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday, though the panel has not yet voted on her nomination.

To begin, she was introduced by Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who said he'd been friends since high school with her parents—who were present along with her sister, her husband, Justin (formerly with the CIA for 10 years, and now with IBM), and other family members, friends and former colleagues.

“To tell you how far we go back, I hired her as an intern when I first went to the House 20 years ago,” Isakson said. He gave her a pass for going to Wake Forrest instead of the University of Georgia and said she went on to a “great law school”—Stanford, in California.

Then the senator pointed out that she clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit, also present.

Isakson failed to mention she went from the job with Kavanaugh to Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C., before returning to her hometown, Atlanta, to work as solicitor general for the Georgia Attorney General's Office. She served there for a year before Gov. Nathan Deal nominated her to the Georgia Supreme Court a year and a half ago.

But the Kirkland & Ellis card came in handy a few minutes later when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, remarked that Grant had only been an advocate for the state and not a trial lawyer, but he hoped she understood the importance of a jury.

Grant politely corrected the senator, saying, “I have been a trial attorney,” simply adding that earlier in her career she had worked for a firm in Washington.

Her old boss at Kirkland, Craig Primis, wrote a letter of recommendation for her appointment to the Georgia Supreme Court, saying she quickly understood the complex business litigation the firm handled. “No matter the legal issue,” Primis wrote, “Ms. Grant always demonstrated the intellect, curiosity and judgment needed to get the right result.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he had many more letters like Primis' for Grant's nomination. Grassley then offered her a chance to talk about how her service on the Georgia Supreme Court, however brief, has prepared her for the federal bench.

“Practice makes perfect,” Grant said. “I've gotten accustomed to deciding cases.”

Whitehouse asked her, “What is the most important thing a litigant ought to feel walking up the steps to the courthouse?”

She answered, “Litigants should be confident the judge will treat them fairly and won't have prejudged the case.”

Sen. Michael Lee, R-Utah, provided a chance to trip over the constitutional limits of judicial powers. Grant said it's the duty of judges to faithfully apply the law and legal precedent, and if she wanted to make policy, she would have run for the state assembly.

“But what if they pass a really stupid law?” Lee asked. “What if it tugs at your heartstrings and you really don't like it?”

“I've done that already,” Grant said of applying laws with which she might disagree. “I would pledge to continue doing that if I'm fortunate enough to be confirmed.”

Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, asked her about racial bias, noting in his question the “shocking disparity” between blacks and whites in arrests on drug charges. Booker said despite using drugs in the same proportions, African-Americans are two to three times more likely to be arrested for it.

“Racial bias is inappropriate in any situation. I will do anything I can to eliminate any bias whatsoever,” Grant answered. “There is no room for racial bias in my courtroom or anywhere else.”

Booker also asked her about minimum sentences—70 percent of which, he said, involve black and Latino defendants.

“As a judge, it's not appropriate for me to get into policy questions,” Grant said. “But it's a very important conversation.”

The hearing wrapped in less than an hour.

“You won't believe it, but you're done,” Grassley said. He added those members not present would have one week to file written questions.

Grassley closed with his congratulations, and his compliments on the demeanor of the Grants' three children—ages 4, 6 and 8—whom she said at the beginning had been given “strong incentives for good behavior.”