My new Confirmation Tales post presents the phenomenon in recent decades of a sharp increase in the number of Supreme Court justices who were formerly federal appellate judges. Here’s my opening paragraph:

When Senator Hillary Clinton and her allies failed to thwart Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the D.C. Circuit in May 2006, they knew that he was well positioned for a possible Supreme Court nomination down the road. Indeed, the function of a federal appellate judgeship as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court had never been more clear. When Samuel Alito replaced Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court a few months earlier, the Court for the first time ever consisted of nine justices who had previously been federal appellate judges.

The graph I’ve composed tells a remarkable story.

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