Clearing Up Some Misconceptions About the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket-and Its Critics

Professor Steve Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law will be joining via Zoom for a talk, titled "Clearing Up Some Misconceptions About the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket-and Its Critics."
Professor Vladeck holds the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts at the University of Texas School of Law and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts, among other topics. He has argued multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, testified before numerous congressional committees and Executive Branch agencies and commissions (including, most recently, the Senate Judiciary Committee). He is CNN’s lead Supreme Court analyst and is currently working on a book on the rise of the Supreme Court's "shadow docket," to be published in Spring 2023.
The presentation will be followed by a response from Notre Dame Law Professor Samuel Bray and then a Q&A session.
Sponsor: Notre Dame Law School chapter of the American Constitution Society
Co-sponsors: National Lawyers Guild, American Civil Liberties Union, and LGBT Law Forum at Notre Dame Law School

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Professor Bray's comments about not viewing justices as partisan actors strikes me as either naive or dishonest.
First off, the confirmation of justices has become increasingly partisan. While the current justices appointed by Democratic Presidents were confirmed on mostly bipartisan grounds (Breyer 87-9 , Sotomayor 68-31 , Kagan 63-37 ), of the sitting justices appointed by Republican Presidents, only one can claim bipartisan support (Roberts 78-22). The rest (Thomas 52-48, Alito 58-42, Gorsuch 54-45, Kavanaugh 50-48, Barret 52-48) have received no votes from the opposing party at all!
Now whether that's because Republican Presidents appointed justices that harbor increasingly partisan views, or the Democrats refuse to confirm perfectly qualified justices, it seems unreasonable to argue that you have a Supreme Court populated by entirely by non-partisan actors. The confirmation process clearly shows that the Senate believes these are partisan justices.
And that's not even taking into account the frequency with which justices align with outcomes preferred by the party of the President by whom they were appointed.
If you want the Supreme Court justices to appear non-partisan, maybe you should select justices who have bi-partisan support.