Mitch McConnell changed the rules (the "nuclear option") to end the ability of the Senate to filibuster and thereby block Supreme Court appointments, allowing the appointment of Gorsuch.
The Republicans say Harry Reid is to blame because at the beginning of Obama's second term, he ended the filibuster for federal judges below Supreme Court level; it's just a natural extension of that, Republicans say, to do away with the filibuster for judges at the Supreme Court level as well (which they just did).
Between 1949 and 2009, 68 federal judges (below Supreme Court level) had their nominations filibustered and blocked in the Senate. When McConnell's Republicans took over the Senate in the 2010 elections, they filibustered 79 of Obama's lower-court nominees during his first term (until 2012).
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