2 of those hacks were gifted on silver platters by establishment Dems.
1. They could have fought harder (or at all) to get Merrick Garland confirmed.
2. RBG needed to step down.
Many, many people warned of the dire consequences of these decisions. Now here we are.
Edit: I'm rate limited, but in response to Tyler below:
> What were the Dems supposed to do exactly?
Anything. "We tried nothing, and we're all out of ideas". Some ideas:
1. A public pressure campaign. Mobilise public opinion and leverage media. Try.
2. Procedural tactics in the Senate. Delay bills, force debate, etc. Dems can be highly cunning & competent when fighting against progressives, so I know they had the ability.
3. Explore legal avenues to hold Republicans responsible for fucking with Democracy like that. Accountability; what a concept.
Republicans refused to hold the vote on Garland, spouting off nonsense about “No new justices in an election year”. The same people rammed judges through in Trumps last year. Typical right wing hypocrisy.
So, they either make a liar out of themselves, or become a rank hypocrite.
Anyway, I'll grant it's symbolically different and it wasn't a good look. In practice though, the senate has to be on board with the nomination and in both cases they were not and it didn't go through in either.
It's composed of the three honest judges and six partisan Federalist Society hacks who will make up whatever terrible "justification" to rule for the powerful and rich.