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Notes -
Gave some examples in a short comment above/below.
It seems to me that court packing arguments (which for the record I vehemently oppose) were more a result of a sustained series of SC appointments they lost. Merrick Garland resulted in some bad blood, but then even after they simply had a mixture of bad luck and bad timing with more justices dying or retiring than is typical. Some (maybe not all but a big chunk) of this resentment comes down to bitterness. And not only on the SC (3, more than Obama’s 2, in just a 4 year term instead of 8), for example this showed that Trumps first term almost placed as many appeals court judges in 4 years as Obama in 8. And polling data indicates that views of SC partisanship (see line graph) tend to dovetail with the change in balance. I’d say that’s evidence against Dems being especially respectful of the SC, but I think that aspect of fairness and respect has always been a little overblown. For at least a century the SC has been controversial and also respect ebbs and flows, especially with major decisions, and that’s true for both parties.
In short judgeships are a separate issue that I don’t think is representative. But on that issue, yes I think both parties behave similarly.
As to forgiveness? I’ll have to think a bit. A few come to mind though. Clinton didn’t take a hard tack after his own impeachment and that helped his reputation a lot (and Gore was a whisker away from winning). Internationally our relatively forgiving response after WW2 did quite a bit to ensure the next decades would be peaceful and even gained Germany and Japan as solid allies.
Arguably the decline in political forgiveness is partly why bipartisan stuff is harder recently, but I’m not certain how much to ascribe to it.
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