Connecticut Superior Court judges need to be reconfirmed by the General Assembly every eight years. How the General Assembly dealt with the renomination—or better yet, denomination—of Judge Jane Emons was not a profile in courage, but a profile in cowardice.

Emons was approved for reappointment by an overwhelming majority of the Connecticut Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. Her reappointment should have been routine. But it never came up for a vote before the General Assembly. As a result, her decadeslong tenure as a Judge, assistant attorney general, and assistant state’s attorney came to end on May 4. It came to an end without a voice raised or a vote taken. It came to an end as the result of inaction by a dysfunctional Legislature.