America’s decision to apologize formally to Justice Kavanaugh marks a graceful — and, we’d like to think, healing — moment in the otherwise tawdry affair of his confirmation. That process was destroyed by Democrats who levied salacious charges against the nominee only when he had passed the substantive part of the hearing. They’d made up their minds against him from the start.

The apology was extended at his swearing in at the White House by, in President Trump, the head of not only our government but also of the American state. That gave it a special gravitas. “Those who step forward to serve our country,” Mr. Trump said, “deserve a fair and dignified evaluation, not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception.”

“In our country,” the president declared, “a man or woman must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.” A burst of applause erupted in a room that included a number of Justice Kavanaugh’s colleagues on the court. Then Mr. Trump turned to the Kavanaugh daughters and told them: “Your father is a great man, he is a man of decency, character, kindness, and courage.”

The judicial oath was administered by the justice who vacated the seat that Justice Kavanaugh will fill, Anthony Kennedy. It marked the first time that a justice was succeeded by one of his clerks. No justice has ever shepped more nachas than Justice Kennedy took from this circumstance, which was also marked by the president. Then the new justice delivered his own remarks.

The travail of his confirmation he dealt with only toward the end, saying it was behind us. He declared he takes the office with gratitude and “no bitterness.” He spoke of the non-partisan nature of the court and how the justices don’t caucus on opposite sides of an aisle. The cameras caught the other members of what Justice Kavanaugh called a “team of nine” standing for the applause and joining in it. If they can all rise to this occasion, maybe the rest of the country can rise with them.