McConnell’s ‘force of will’ shaped the fed­er­al judi­cia­ry

The most glow­ing admir­ers and fiercest detrac­tors of Sen­ate Minor­i­ty Leader Mitch McConnell (R‑KY) agree on one thing — his abil­i­ty to move the fed­er­al judi­cia­ry in a more con­ser­v­a­tive direc­tion.
McConnell is set to step down from his lead­er­ship post after the Novem­ber elec­tions, cap­ping a record 18 years as par­ty leader, six head­ing Repub­li­can majori­ties and 12 play­ing defense in the minor­i­ty. Even though McConnell was major­i­ty leader only about a third of that time, he played a cru­cial role in push­ing through judi­cial nom­i­nees put for­ward by then-Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump and, just as impor­tant­ly, block­ing judi­cial can­di­dates nom­i­nat­ed by then-Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma.
McConnell led the 1 …