It took five years, but now conservatives across the country are expressing their heartfelt gratitude to former Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid for eliminating the filibuster for most nominations by presidents in 2013, allowing the Senate to approve judicial nominees with a simple majority instead of the 60-vote supermajority that had been the standard for nearly four decades. The Washington Post chortled at the time, “Now, a president whose party holds the majority in the Senate is virtually assured of having his nominees approved, with far less opportunity for political obstruction.”
Whoops.
Since the GOP currently holds a slim 51-49 majority, the fact that a simple majority is all that they need to approve a Supreme Court justice means that a true conservative can be confirmed to the court.
Reid had acted so that former President Barack Obama could gain confirmation of three picks to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, feeling that the GOP had obstructed those selections.
At the time, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had presciently warned Reid, “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”
But Reid was adamant, and issued a deathless tweet that may now come back to haunt him:
And now, conservatives are expressing their gratitude: