The Senate's 2013 Nuclear Option Changed What a Majority Means
In November 2013, Senate Democrats changed a rule that had stood since 1917 — with a parliamentary trick and a simple majority.
On November 21, 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid raised a point of order: that cloture on executive and judicial nominations — ending debate to allow a vote — should require only a simple majority, not the 60 votes that Senate Rule XXII had required since 1975.
Vice President Joe Biden, presiding, ruled the point of order out of order. Reid then appealed the ruling of the chair. The Senate voted 52 to 48 to overturn Biden's ruling. That vote, by simple majority, changed what a majority means in the Senate.
The mechanism exploited a structural ambiguity: Senate rules can themselves be changed by the same body that follows them, and a majority ruling upheld by a majority vote effectively amends operating procedure without a formal two-thirds rule change. The procedure had been described theoretically as a "nuclear option" since the early 2000s, when both parties threatened to use it against the other's obstruction tactics.
The immediate trigger was Republican filibusters of Obama administration nominees to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, widely considered the second most important federal court. Reid's caucus had seen three circuit court nominations blocked in quick succession.
In April 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell extended the same logic to Supreme Court nominations, allowing Neil Gorsuch's confirmation to proceed on 54 votes. The rule now applies to all federal nominations. Only legislation retains the 60-vote cloture threshold — for now.
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