Harry Reid, in a fit of spinefulness, killed off a Senate rule last night. There are really only two things you need to know about this:
- The rule itself was an obscure and trivial delaying tactic that, until now, neither party had used for decades. It does not directly affect either cloture or the filibuster, so stop drooling.
- The rule was eliminated by a majority vote that overturned a ruling of the parliamentarian.
#1 doesn’t matter. (Though details are here if you’re a masochist.) #2 might be a big deal. For starters, if you can change the Senate rules by simply overruling the parliamentarian on a majority vote, you can change pretty much any Senate rule by a majority vote. For seconders, Harry Reid actually got the entire Democratic caucus to go along with this. That’s…..sort of amazing.
No one knows how this is going to play out in the future. One possibility is that it’s a nothingburger. Overturning an obscure rule doesn’t set much of a precedent, and likewise, uniting the Democratic caucus over something so arcane doesn’t mean much either. Mitch McConnell and his friends will squawk, and then life will go back to normal. What’s more, the proposition that a parliamentarian’s ruling can be overturned on a majority vote isn’t really anything new. It hasn’t been used much, but it’s a precedent that’s been in place for decades.
Still, there’s at least the possibility that it’s very much a somethingburger. It might be something Republicans take advantage of if they win a Senate majority in the next election. In the nearer future, it might mean Democrats are finally figuring out that if they don’t hang together, they will assuredly all hang separately. If I had to guess, I’d vote that this is a nothingburger, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
(It will, of course, also inspire Fox/Drudge/Tea Party shrieks about totalitarianism and Democratic thuggery, but that can be safely ignored. The real action will all be behind the scenes.)
