Simply A Case Of Bush Hatred?

Ed Whelan writes about judicial nominations during the last year of the past few Presidents. Constitutionally, the Senate's responsibility in judicial nominations is a simple up-or-down vote - basically, if the nominee is competent, they're supposed to vote yes. It's a simple check to make sure the President doesn't nominate his fourth cousin once removed (or a total moron, etc.) to the bench. The recent Congress, however, has started playing politics with nominations, obstructing nominees with conservative or originalist viewpoints. The numbers show a definite trend of Congress abusing their responsibility:

1. Appellate nominees confirmed during a president’s final two years:
Carter—44
Reagan—17
G.H.W. Bush—20
Clinton—15 (7 in 1999, 8 in 2000)
G.W. Bush—5 (with just over a year to go)

2. Hearings on appellate nominees in president’s next-to-last year:
Clinton—10
G.W. Bush—4 (with just over a month to go)

Not that it's any big surprise to people with an objective eye toward the politics of the day, but it's always good to see numbers that confirm the anecdotal evidence.

There's my two cents.