Eleven years ago, as Neil Gorsuch waited to be confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, his nomination was deemed so uncontroversial that only one senator turned up to what ended up being a twenty-minute hearing.

The grueling months-long confirmation process he’s about to experience will likely be very different. Now, Gorsuch is not only readying himself to step into Antonin Scalia’s shoes, he’s also preparing to claim what many liberals regard as Merrick Garland’s rightful place, after Republican obstructionism killed President Obama’s ill-fated nomination before it had even been announced.

Combined with Gorsuch’s status as Donald Trump’s first judicial nominee and the fact that his confirmation would tip the court’s ideological balance back to the right, this history promises to make his nomination a bruising spectacle.