Instead of filibustering only in "extraordinary circumstances," Republicans routinely insisted on sixty-vote majorities to end debate on lower-court judicial nominees.
In 2003, the Supreme Court struck down the antique laws criminalizing sexual love between people of the same gender, and in December 2010 the Democrats finally used their congressional majorities to end the contemptible "don't ask, don't tell" rules within our armed services.
It's one thing to say that the majority wants to end the wars; it's another thing to say that the majority wants to end the wars, and furthermore, people in my district see this as a priority.
On his campaign Web site, he has made two somewhat inconsistent promises: to caucus with the party that is clearly in the majority and to end the obstruction of the past few years.
With the latest talks on the future of Kosovo between Serbian authorities and leaders of the province's ethnic Albanian majority set to end in Austria today, there were no signs of a compromise.
At the very opening of Congress in 1975, my colleagues and I announced our proposal to amend Rule 22, and threatened to force a majority vote to end a filibuster on the change if the minority tried to block it.
Along the way, it dropped a provision called "the previous question motion," which allowed a senator to hold a majority vote to end debate on a question, and, in so doing, dropped the only way to stop a group of senators from talking.
Reid is threatening to use a majority vote to end filibusters for presidential appointments (that's the "nuclear" part).
