Republican Sen. Ben Sasse tore into his own branch of government Tuesday as he slammed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s hearing process as an “overblown, politicized circus.”

At the Judiciary Committee hearing, the Nebraska senator blamed a dysfunctional Congress for the overheated drama surrounding high court nominations. As the opening day devolved into a spectacle of protests and objections, Sasse explained there’s so much “hysteria” and pressure with regard to the court because “Congress has decided to self-neuter.”

He lamented that the Supreme Court justices, in turn, are expected to be “super legislators.” This “misunderstanding of the role of the Supreme Court,” he argued, accounts for the vitriolic rhetoric aimed at Kavanaugh.