If any U.S. Supreme Court justices were watching Wednesday's confirmation hearing for solicitor general nominee Noel Francisco, they were almost certainly comforted by his remarks, especially his nod to the position's “special duty of independence and candor” to the high court.

Francisco sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, even though some senators appeared preoccupied by President Donald Trump's Tuesday firing of FBI director James Comey. But any anger over the firing did not color the questioning of Francisco, formerly a Jones Day partner.

Several senators noted that Francisco would be the first U.S. Senate-confirmed solicitor general of Asian-American heritage. His father left the Philippines in 1935 and settled in Oswego, New York, where Noel Francisco was born in 1969. Oswego, he said, “welcomed my father … with open arms.”