"This will be the first and last partisan filibuster of a Supreme Court nomination," McConnell, R-Ky., vowed Thursday morning ahead of the votes.

I'd argue that Merrick Garland was stopped by a partisan filibuster.

Lots of blame to go around. Supreme Court nominations have always been politicized, but starting with LBJ they got uglier. By the nineties the Republicans were blocking tons of Clinton lower court picks.  The Democrats retaliated in the oughts with Bush's picks. The filibuster on appointments was nearly removed by the Republican majority, but for a last minute bipartisan intervention. When the Republicans went after Obama's picks, the Democratic majority just did away with it except for Supreme Court seats, setting the stage for this.

The good part is vacant seats will finally start getting filled. The bad part is any president with a senate majority will ram through the most ideologically extreme justices possible. Our dysfunctional government just got even more so.