Shall we just drop the pretense of an independent judiciary?

We might as well, if judicical confirmations stay this politicized. As Beldar explains:

Well, okay then. If that's the standard, then the Supreme Court is solely a creature of politics. Let's just drop any pretense that we value "the rule of law" or "judicial independence" or "appearance of impartiality and propriety." Let's rename the Supreme Court and call it the "Supreme Soviet" instead. If that's the standard, then with respect to those vacancies that occur when the President and the Senate are controlled by the same party, the Senate will rubber-stamp every nominee; and with respect to those vacancies that occur when different parties control the White House and the Senate, the Senate's role will vanish entirely, and the President will keep the Court functioning solely through his power to make recess appointments that bypass the Senate. If that's the standard, then we've all been wasting our time on these confirmation hearings, and Dubya ought to just go ahead and recess-appoint, oh, say, Karl Rove as Chief Justice the next time the Senators leave town. (There's no constitutional requirement that the Chief Justice be a lawyer, after all.)

...From the right or the left, anyone who thinks Roe v. Wade is the only important issue the Supreme Court may face is an idiot. And anyone who thinks judges and justices ought to be picked and confirmed based on their precommitments to vote particular ways in particular cases doesn't understand — and hence is an implied enemy of and/or danger to — the rule of law.

Amen.