That’s the title of my new Confirmation Tales post, which begins:

When George W. Bush nominated him to the Tenth Circuit in May 2006, Neil Gorsuch had lots of the markings that had aroused vigorous Democratic opposition to Bush’s earlier appellate nominees. He had elite credentials. He had a strong conservative pedigree. And he was young—only 38. In short, Gorsuch had the profile of someone who, if confirmed to an appellate seat, would be a prominent contender for a Supreme Court nomination by a Republican president at some point over the next fifteen years.
Yet Senate Democrats allowed Gorsuch’s nomination to be confirmed by voice vote barely two months later.
Gorsuch’s quick path to a very easy confirmation is an extraordinary testament to the power of a positive blue slip from an opposite-party senator: in his case, from Colorado’s Democratic senator Ken Salazar.

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