President Trump's selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy was met with the expected Democratic outrage and promises to derail his candidacy. Kavanaugh's Senate confirmation hearings, scheduled for September, will likely prove the political battle of the season. They will also mark a new era in High Court confirmation hearings: they will take place in a Senate that has done away with the filibuster.
Dating back to the nineteenth century, the filibuster is a procedural device that lets a numerical Senate minority effectively terminate a nomination or legislation by creating, or threatening to create, endless debate. Recognizing that one senator could use the filibuster to hold up the work of the chamber—remember Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington?—the Senate adopted the cloture rule in 1917 to terminate the action. Invoking cloture initially required a two-thirds vote, but the threshold was lowered to 60 votes in 1975.
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