Ignoring the Bork and Thomas clown-show hearings, you should check out the Senate vote totals re: party split line for candidates nominated by opposite party presidents:

Thomas, nominated by R: 52-48

Ginsburg, nominated by D: 96-3, 1 not voting

Breyer, nominated by D: 87-9, 4 not voting

Roberts, nominated by R: 78-22

Alito, nominated by R: 58-42

Sotomayor, nominated by D: 68-31

Kagan, nominated by D: 63-37

Gorsuch, nominated by R: 54-45

Kavanaugh, nominated by R: 50-48

I've long been a firm believer that elections have consequences and that presidents should get to nominate qualified people to SCOTUS who share their interpretation of law.

But starting with Bork, it became apparent that a number of Democrats did not share that view, believing instead that they should determine who sits on the Court, regardless of who is president.

This also impacts the lower courts. See also Estrada's treatment.

Anyway, you'll notice the bipartisan vote totals across party lines slowly diminishing over time, with a dramatic shift in Senate Democrat votes first.

Not so oddly, Republicans finally started responding in kind. Harry Reid killing the filibuster for non-SCOTUS courts opened the door for what happened with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and, I suspect, will happen within the next few weeks.

SCOTUS is not supposed to be all powerful, nor is it supposed to make laws. It determines constitutionality of laws and their applicability, or something something more lawyerese, but I think it's close enough.

I blame Congress, both parties, for allowing this to happen. They could remove things from judicial purview, but choose not to do so. They also refuse to change the laws, waiting for SCOTUS to do it for them. "Welp, it's out of my hands."

Anyway, having a Court opening 6 weeks before the election is so 2020. Welcome to Thunderdome.