> one of them illegitimately From googling, I'm guessing you're referring to the fact that Barrett's appointment was a week ahead of the presidential election

> one of them illegitimately From googling, I'm guessing you're referring to the fact that Barrett's appointment was a week ahead of the presidential election and months ahead of the end of trump's presidency. Federal appointments down to the last minute of a presidency are lawful, and somewhat late appointments happen frequently. I find the suggestion otherwise in this context particularly amusing, because the fantastic drama over some literally 11th hour appointments-- ones so late they were delivered after the end of the presidency-- is how the supreme court took the power to review laws for constitutionality in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison . Even lame-duck supreme court nominations used to be fairly common (even though supreme court nominations are not that common themselves) -- that they aren't common more recently is because an unplanned vacancy is far more rare. It's true that Obama failed to make a nomination at the end of his term, but the view that he couldn't or that it would have been improper is just not factually supported by the law or the history of the country, including the history of supreme court nominations. Instead there is a clear political explanation: Given the composition of the senate and the weakness of an outgoing president, Obama would have only been able to get through a compromise nomination. There was high confidence that Hillary would win and that the dems would have greater senate influence, allowing a more politically extreme nominee if it was left to her term. This was a grave political error, one I suspect we'll be suffering from for years to come. (The fact that we had a number of unplanned vacancies of late are also political errors, at least to the extent that you consider the justices political actors.) I find it unfair to the point of outright incivility though to escalate a debate about the fairness of it the level of calling the appointment _illegitimate_, and is disrespectful to a fine and honorable institution. The fact that some politicians and pundits can't restrain themselves doesn't excuse the rest of us. > you reading some of these decisions [...] to treat any of these decision It's a big step from some to any. No person or process is infallible.