[IfOnlyYouKnew]

I guess it depends on what one considers necessary...

If you did a survey, I would believe public opinion to be closer to "judges are partisan and always decide along ideological lines" than reality.

With that assumption, mentions of who appointed judges when writing about their decisions would also work against public cynicism on this issue.

Unless, of course, people somehow manage to give more weight to evidence confirming their biases than evidence against.