WASHINGTON Republicans chalked up a major win on Thursday when the Supreme Court gave its blessing to extreme partisan gerrymandering . They largely have Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to thank.

The courts 5-4 ruling broke down along partisan lines, with the five conservative justices holding the majority opinion. Republicans have done far more gerrymandering than Democrats in the past decade and currently have the power to draw many more congressional districts than Democrats . If this trend continues beyond the 2020 elections, the Supreme Courts decision will effectively entrench GOP rule in states all over the country.

We wouldnt be here if it werent for McConnell, whose unwavering focus on remaking the nations federal courts to benefit Republicans democracy be damned is paying off.

One of the courts conservative justices, Neil Gorsuch, wouldnt even be on the court if it werent for McConnell. Gorsuch filled a seat that was supposed to go to President Barack Obama s nominee, Merrick Garland. But when that seat opened up in February 2016 after then-Justice Antonin Scalia died, McConnell announced he would block any Obama replacement . He and Senate Republicans spent the next year denying a hearing and a vote to Garland an unprecedented level of obstruction aimed at a sitting president and eventually let President Donald Trump fill the seat with Gorsuch in 2017.

This was after McConnell changed the Senate rules to confirm Gorsuch, and after McConnell boasted that one of my proudest moments was looking Obama in the eye and telling him he would block his Supreme Court pick.