Between 2009 and 2013, Senate Republicans blocked 79 of President Barack Obama's nominees using filibusters, more than the 68 nominees blocked by filibuster during the entire previous history of the United States.
Notes on verification
Figure derived from PolitiFact's independent analysis of CRS data, consistently reaffirmed across 2013 and 2017 fact-checks, and corroborated by additional media coverage. [tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- McConnell Undid 213 Years of Senate History in 33 Minutes (seed:politics_and_current_events)
- https://politifact.com/factchecks/2013/nov/22/harry-reid/harry-reid-says-82-presidential-nominees-have-been/ (corroboration)
- https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/apr/09/ben-cardin/did-senate-republicans-filibuster-obama-court-nomi/ (corroboration)
- https://www.thedailybeast.com/did-the-gop-filibuster-more-obama-court-nominees-than-all-others-combined/ (corroboration)