President Obama, in making the case for the Republican Senate to consider his appointment to replace deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, lamented that the process of confirming nominees has gotten “worse and worse” over the years.

In his remarks, Obama complained about how every presidential nomination is now contested, an example of how “the venom and rancor in Washington has prevented us from getting basic work done.” He observed that judicial nominations had “become just one more extension of politics.”

Obama is right in this limited sense. In an ideal world, the confirmation process ought to be relatively uncontroversial, but over the decades, the level of controversy over appointments has escalated, and judicial nomination fights have become especially pitched partisan battles.