Do other countries have controversy over their Supreme Court appointments?

[muriel_volestrangler]

I know the UK doesn't - we have the Law Lords, who fulfill the same function of being the final court of appeal in legal cases (well, some things can be appealed to the European level above them now), but their appointments aren't news at all, let alone the cause of massive debates. No-one characterises them as 'conservative' or 'liberal'. Now, the UK doesn't, of course, have a written constitution, and so a lot of the cases that the US Supreme Court sees wouldn't happen in the UK - there isn't the big job of measuring laws against the constitution.

But most other countries do have a written constitution. So is the appointment of the top court judges as much of a political event in other countries as the US? Or is this an American thing - "if in doubt, take people to court, and, if in doubt, take the courts to politics"?