Everyone remembers how the GOP stole what was then the Supreme Court's swing seat by blocking Garland's nomination, and how it then reneged on its own made-up rule to ram through Barrett.

Fewer remember what happened in the circuit courts. The Third Circuit is a good example. 1/

3 seats on CA3 came open during Obama's 2nd term:
- Scirica 7/13
- Rendell 7/15
- Fuentes 7/16

Obama's term ended 1/17. Let's look at what happened with all 3. 2/

For Scirica's seat, Obama nominated Felipe Restrepo on 11/14, over a year and 4 mos after the seat opened.

3/

The reasons for that delay still aren't public. Maybe Obama moved slowly, or maybe Pa. GOP Senator Toomey dragged out negotiations using blue slip leverage. My guess is both are to blame but mostly Toomey. 4/

Restrepo's nomination sat for over a year then died when the Senate adjourned. Obama renominated him 1/15, he finally got a SJC hearing 6/15, and he was confirmed 1/16.
5/

So Obama filled that seat. It took 2.5 yrs from when it opened, 1.5 yrs from the original nomination. It turns out Restrepo was the last one through the blockade.

(Restrepo was 56 when commissioned and will be eligible to go senior earlier than 2 of Bush II's CA3 appointees.) 6/

Okay, 2nd CA3 opening of Obama's 2nd term was Rendell's. She gave *6 months'* advance notice. But it still took 9 more months after she went senior for Obama to nominate career federal prosecutor Rebecca Haywood. 7/

Again, the reasons for that glacial pace aren't public. But here I'd bet the farm that Toomey dragged out negotiations, again using his blueslip leverage, until finally Obama just threw up his hands and made a doomed nomination. 8/

Haywood had zero partisan/ideological record, was unquestionably qualified, and would have been the court's first-ever black woman. Toomey blocked her for reasons he never really explained, something lame about her struggling to answer one of his interview questions. 9/

So the Rendell seat sat empty for the last 1.5 years of Obama's admin. Trump quickly nominated Stephanos Bibas and the Senate confirmed him 10 mos into Trump's term. 10/

Okay, 3rd opening was Fuentes. He went senior with 6 months left in Obama's term. It was obvious by then that the Senate GOP wouldn't let anyone through, and Obama didn't bother even nominating anyone. 11/

Trump nominated Paul Matey to fill the Fuentes seat in 4/18, renominated him 1/19, and he was confirmed 3/19. Matey has quickly emerged as one of CA3's most conservative judges. 12/

If the Senate GOP had treated Obama's nominations the same way it treated Trump's, Obama plainly would have filled all 3 seats. Instead, he filled 1 and was lucky it wasn't 0.
/13

Flip side, Trump would've filled 2 Third Circuit seats (the Fisher and Vanaskie seats), not 4.

And if the Senate GOP had played by its Obama-admin rules for Trump, Porter, Matey, and Phipps all would have been blue-slipped, just like multiple would-be Obama noms were.

14/

The GOP accomplished all that using two tools. First, it weaponized blue slips to delay and outright block. They dusted off Jesse Helms's strategy and took it national. Second, it used its control of SJC to delay/block nominations Obama did manage from getting to the floor. 15/

Blue slips plus the committee blockade gave the GOP the only obstruction tools they needed. No circuit nom nominated after 11/14 got through, more than 2 yrs before the end of Obama's presidency.

By contrast, GOP confirmed a CA7 nomination Trump made *after the election.*

16/

Also by contrast, Dems confirmed 7 circuit nominees nominated later in Bush II's 2nd term than any nominee the GOP confirmed in Obama's. Every 1 of those 7 were confirmed within a year of the nomination, the last 2 in under 3 months. 17/

Bottom line: Republicans didn't just steal Supreme Court power, they also stole circuit court power.

At both levels, the impact will last decades.
/end