A reader comments on the misleading warnings that the filibuster protects progressive programs and priorities as well:
And remember, the GQP killed the filibuster for judicial appointments specifically so they could ram through their agenda of appointing favorable judges. This has been one of Moscow Mitch’s frequently stated goals: to screw future D legislators by having life-time judicial appointments beholden to his ideology.
For those readers who are wondering, GQP is not a typo, but a reference to the increased influence the QAnon conspiracy theories appears to be having on Republicans.
Insofar as the filibuster’s application to judicial nominations goes, I found this in Wikipedia’s page on former Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):
On November 21, 2013, under Reid’s tenure as Majority Leader, the Democratic majority Senate voted 52–48 to eliminate the 60-vote requirement to end a filibuster against all executive branch nominees and judicial nominees other than to the Supreme Court. A 3/5 supermajority was still required to end filibusters unrelated to those nominees, such as for legislation and Supreme Court nominees. The Democrats’ stated motivation for the “nuclear option” was expansion of filibustering by Republicans during the Obama administration, in particular blocking three nominations to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
It’s a little difficult justifying blaming Republicans and not Democrats, as they both have indulged in removing filibuster requirements.
