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A story from the memory hole: In 2013, Republicans threw a huge fit over "court packing" when Obama tried to simply fill three existing vacancies on the eleven-member DC Circuit. Then-Rep. Tom Cotton introduced legislation to reduce the size of the court. https://www.courthousenews.com/republicans-call-d-c-circuitnominations-court-packing/
In the Senate, Chuck Grassley also introduced legislation to shrink the DC Circuit by three judges with immediate effect--changing the size of a court with the conscious purpose of denying Obama the opportunity to nominate additional judges to it. https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/nomination-sri-srinivasan-and-court-efficiency-act
Contra Grassley's statement, the Judicial Conference of the US said at the time that the court's workload required 11 judges.
"People are laughing because it's obviously a blatant political move," President Obama said. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/04/remarks-president-nominations-us-court-appeals-district-columbia-circuit
"People are laughing because it's obviously a blatant political move," President Obama said. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/04/remarks-president-nominations-us-court-appeals-district-columbia-circuit
Grassley's bill to change the size of the DC circuit for pretty transparently political reasons was cosponsored by current Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, as well as Sens. Cornyn, Lee, and Cruz.
For the Biden campaign, revisiting stories of the Republican Senate’s Obama-era hijinks with the courts—this episode, Merrick Garland, Myrna Selby, etc.—may risk taking some of the spotlight off Trump. OTOH, it could help underline for voters the importance of the Senate.
