The Senate did something remarkable Monday. It confirmed one of Obama's Circuit Court nominees, Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania. He was just the second Circuit Court nominee approved in the last year. If conservative groups—and probably the majority of Senate Republicans, to be honest—have their way, he'll be the last.
On Monday evening, the lobbying outfit Heritage Action called for an end to judicial confirmations during Obama’s final year, and on Tuesday it will call for an end to all confirmations except for those necessary to national security. The high-profile conservative group joined previous calls by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and other senators to block Obama from filling any further vacancies, most notably, the federal courts, which could decide key parts of his legacy in the years and decades ahead.
So far, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) isn’t planning on a full blockade: He’s already agreed with Democrats to approve four more federal judges by the end of February. Still, that won’t make much of a dent in the backlog of 30 lifetime judicial nominees still awaiting confirmation.
Restrepo was likely just allowed because Toomey was getting increasingly desperate about his nomination because it had become a campaign issue for him. He'd be blocking the nomination until activists back home started raising hell over it, making it a campaign issue. Since giving his okay on the nomination in May, Toomey has been pleading with McConnell to allow the vote. There aren't more high-profile nominations in the home states of vulnerable Republicans up for re-election this cycle, so don't expect more confirmations.
Already, the Senate Republicans have set a dubious record—the lowest number of confirmations since 1969. The number of judicial emergencies—where a combination of case loads and length of vacancy means justice denied—has tripled since Republicans took over the Senate in 2015.
It's not just judges, by the way, though in terms of President Obama's legacy the courts are the most high-profile target of Republican obstruction. On Monday, Acting Army Secretary Eric Fanning stepped down at least temporarily from the post because of "concerns" expressed by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that a nominee awaiting confirmation is holding the acting position. Also, Sen. Pat Roberts, (R-KS) has a hold on Fanning's nomination, supposedly to protest Obama's efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and not because Fanning would be the first openly gay secretary of a military branch. One suspects Gitmo isn't necessarily the biggest issue for Roberts or the rest of the Republican gang.