Today’s removal of the filibuster — a parliamentary tool effectively requiring 60 votes to proceed with a vote on a matter — for Supreme Court nominees is the long overdue denouement of a process that began not with Senate Republicans’ refusal to vote on Merrick Garland, or even Harry Reid’s elimination of the filibuster for lower‐court nominees in 2013, but with Reid’s unprecedented partisan filibusters in 2003. Recall especially the record 7 failed votes to end the filibuster of Miguel Estrada, who was blocked primarily because Democrats didn’t want President Bush to appoint the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.
The Senate is now restored to the status quo ante, such that any judicial nominee with majority support will be confirmed. That’s a good thing.
RIP Partisan Filibuster (2003–2017)
