How the filibuster became a cheap trick

It's time to fix it — or end it

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) speaks during a filibuster in 2003.
(Image credit: AP Photo/APTN)

For the last 30 years, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have played poker with judicial nominations, each side upping the ante round by round. Starting with the showdown over Judge Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987, the confirmation process has become increasingly poisoned by partisanship. Later this week, the Senate will reach the final stage of the 30-year conflict — an end to filibusters on all presidential nominations via a rule change by the majority.

Republicans in the Senate have little choice if they want to confirm Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. At least 41 Democrats have publicly committed to voting against cloture, a procedural step to limit debate and force a vote on the nomination. Back in 2013, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) performed precisely the same maneuver to checkmate a refusal by then-minority Republicans to confirm seven nominations to the D.C. Circuit of Appeals. Reid changed the precedent to consider out of order any filibuster on all presidential appointees except those for the Supreme Court — a move that backfired on Senate Democrats when Donald Trump became president and they failed to win a majority in the upper chamber.

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Edward Morrissey

Edward Morrissey has been writing about politics since 2003 in his blog, Captain's Quarters, and now writes for HotAir.com. His columns have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Post, The New York Sun, the Washington Times, and other newspapers. Morrissey has a daily Internet talk show on politics and culture at Hot Air. Since 2004, Morrissey has had a weekend talk radio show in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and often fills in as a guest on Salem Radio Network's nationally-syndicated shows. He lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota with his wife, son and daughter-in-law, and his two granddaughters. Morrissey's new book, GOING RED, will be published by Crown Forum on April 5, 2016.