It seems like the Republican Senate has some political leverage. Judge Adalberto Jordan is reportedly the third person to decline Barack Obama’s offer to be considered as the next justice to occupy the late Antonin Scalia’s seat. The other two are Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval.

“Each of these decisions, I’m sure, reflected some considerations unique to each person,” wrote National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru. “But you’ve got to think that one consideration for each of them is that you’d have to endure a lot of negative attention and probably not get confirmed this year, thanks to the Senate Republicans’ decision not to take up any nomination.” If you’re a hard charging, Washington type-A, why are you going to waste months on an appointment that you’ll probably never receive? It’s at least a waste of time. At worst, it’s also politically damaging.

This is an additional leverage against Obama and the people that want him to decide who will sit on the High Court. Republicans made it clear when they said they wouldn’t consider any judges nominated from the lame-duck president: This is a constitutional issue. Yet for a president who only considers the political, these three applicants who turned him down show that what he might not get what he wants.