Thank the nuclear option. The Senate approved Patricia Millett for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the first person to be approved under the new Senate filibuster rules. Senate Democrats passed a change last month to the rules for filibustering, meaning that the majority party no longer needed 60 votes to stop filibusters for court nominees. Senate Republicans had been blocking the nominations of Millett, Robert Wilkins, and Nina Pillard, causing Democrats to finally abandon the longstanding filibuster rules for court nominees. Senate Republicans reacted as calmly as you’d think (as in, not calmly at all), calling it the “nuclear option.”
