INSTITUTE INDEX: Senate GOP's judicial obstruction goes far beyond Supreme Court seat

Date on which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) once again said Senate Republicans would refuse to consider any Supreme Court nominee from President Obama to replace conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last month: 3/1/2016

Aside from the Supreme Court seat, current number of federal judicial positions that are vacant because Senate Republicans are blocking appointments in hopes of having a future GOP president fill them: 75

Number of those federal court vacancies that have been officially declared judicial emergencies because of overwhelming caseloads: 31

Number of those judicial emergencies that are in Southern states: 17

That are in Texas alone: 7

Percent by which federal judicial emergencies increased in 2015: 158

Number of federal judges the Senate confirmed last year: 6

Years since the pace of confirmations was this slow: 60

Rank of a vacancy in the Eastern District of North Carolina — part of the state's "Black Belt" that's historically been home to much of the state's African-American population — among the longest-standing in the federal judiciary: 1

Year in which that seat opened up: 2005

Number of part-time senior judges, all over the age of 75, who continue to hear cases in that district: 3

In the Eastern District's 143-year history, number of black judges who've sat on the court: 0

Year in which President Obama nominated for the seat Jennifer Prescod May-Parker, a Guyana native and person of color, only to have the nomination blocked by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, a white North Carolina Republican: 2013

Year in which Obama again nominated May-Parker, with Burr again blocking the nomination: 2014

Date on which Burr, who is up for re-election this year, said the Scalia vacancy should be filled by "a new President": 2/13/2016

(Click on figure to go to source.)