Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declared that a vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will take place this week as senators look at the FBI’s new report into allegations against Kavanaugh.

The Kavanaugh Senate hearings — and the testimony of Dr. Susan Blasey Ford — have put the spotlight of partisanship on the Supreme Court, which, at least in the public eye, has been seen as less absorbed into political fighting.

But the high court, or at least the nomination and confirmation steps, have been highly partisan, off and on, for more than a century.

To talk about that, Calvin Schermerhorn, professor of History at ASU, joined The Show.