It wasn’t that long ago that Supreme Court nominations were viewed as legislative nothingburgers. If you don’t believe me, consider that Earl Warren, Harry Blackmun, and David Souter were nominated by Republican presidents, and Felix Frankfurter and Byron White were nominated by Democrats.
But that was then, and this is now. The culture wars, with their vast legal implications, have polluted the nomination and confirmation process. Both sides view control of the presidency as a life and death matter for their values. The stakes have become much too high, and the hearings are almost uniformly ugly.
Mitch McConnell is grimly driving right-wing judicial nominations through the Senate in the hope of creating a permanent barrier to future left-wing legislation. Some Democrats have responded by proposing to pack the Supreme Court. That is exactly the wrong response. It will further damage the reputation of the Court and invite retaliation in kind from the GOP; it would also deepen the divide between blue and red in a way that threatens the stability of our country.
The correct reaction is to try to find a way to make the process less, not more, political. I would suggest two measures: bring back the filibuster for judges in order to avoid the appointment of radicals on either the right or left; and change the Constitution to provide for limited and staggered terms, so every president has the ability to appoint some justices, and the loss of any particular election does not represent such a catastrophe for either side.
It’s a long shot, to be sure, but it would be worth trying.