Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).Ron Sachs/DPA/ZUMAPRESS.com
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is lending her voice to the chorus of lawmakers who want substantive changes made to how US senators use the filibuster, the main tool of opposition by the minority party.
The impetus for Warren’s comments came on Tuesday, when Senate Republicans filibustered President Obama’s nominee to the influential DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Georgetown Law Professor Cornelia Pillard. If she’s ever confirmed, Pillard would be the fourth woman on this important federal appeals court, which decides often-consequential cases between the federal government and private parties. Senate Republicans have also filibustered Patricia Millett’s nomination to the appeals court and say they plan to block another appeals court nominee, Robert Wilkins, as well.
In the face of all this obstruction, Warren has joined progressive stalwarts such as Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in demanding real changes to how the filibuster is used. “So far they have shut down the government, they have filibustered people [President Obama] has nominated to fill out his administration, and they are now filibustering judges to block him from filling any of the vacancies with highly qualified people,” she said. “We need to call out these filibusters for what they are: Naked attempts to nullify the results of the last election.”
Warren went on: “If Republicans continue to filibuster these highly qualified nominees for no reason other than to nullify the president’s constitutional authority, then senators not only have the right to change the filibuster, senators have a duty to change the filibuster rules,” Warren said. “We cannot turn our backs on the Constitution. We cannot abdicate our oath of office.”
Whether Warren’s call for filibuster reform results in any actual changes is unlikely. The closest we’ve come in recent years to real filibuster reform came in July, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid grew so angry at the GOP’s use (abuse, according to the Democrats) of the filibuster that he almost used the so-called “nuclear option”—changing the Senate rules so that a nominee could be confirmed with a simple 51-vote majority instead of 60 votes. At the last moment, Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) cut a deal to avoid the nuclear option and instead confirm a slate of Obama nominees, including EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez.
Plan for more close calls like Reid’s July showdown—but with both parties wary of losing the filibuster as a tool for minority power, don’t expect major reform any time soon.
