It Might Surprise You, But Here’s How Harry Reid Helped End Roe
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Roe v. Wade would have turned 53 years old on Jan. 22 had the Supreme Court not overturned the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Supreme Court justices, and the presidents who nominated them, deserve many thanks. But perhaps another unlikely figure deserves some thanks, too: the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his decision to nuke the filibuster on certain presidential nominees.
Long before the Dobbs v. Jackson decision was handed down in 2022, Reid laid the groundwork through the changes he made to Senate rules. Reid opened Pandora’s box, and the pro-life movement took advantage of it.
Reid, who, like many other Democrats, became increasingly pro-choice over the course of his Senate career, supported nuking the filibuster on some presidential nominees in 2013.
Frustrated with impediments to confirming then-President Barack Obama’s nominees, Reid convinced enough of his fellow Democrats to invoke the nuclear option so that breaking a filibuster to confirm Cabinet officials and certain judicial nominees could be done by a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes typically required to end debate before the final confirmation vote.
It was a narrow vote of 48-52 in the Senate on Nov. 21, 2013, that sealed the fate of Roe almost a decade later.
No Republicans voted to nuke the filibuster that November day. They were joined by three Democrats—Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
Following the vote, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued his memorable reply: “I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, you will regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think.”
McConnell’s prophetic words came to fruition. Less than four years later, President Donald Trump was in office for his first term and looking to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Republican-controlled Senate blocked Obama from filling Scalia’s seat. Obama had nominated Merrick Garland—who would later become former President Joe Biden’s infamous attorney general—for the high court.
Neil Gorsuch was announced as the nominee on Jan. 31, 2017. On April 6, McConnell expanded Reid’s scrapping of the Senate filibuster to allow the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominees.
Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-46, with no Democratic support.
Still, more needed to happen before Dobbs.
Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett would be nominated and confirmed to the court after the retirement of former Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018 and the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.
The justices nominated by Trump, and reviled and vilified by Democrats, would almost certainly not have gotten confirmed without the nuclear option.
On May 17, 2021, after numerous delays, the justices finally decided that they would hear the Dobbs case, centered around Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
On July 22, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, once thought unthinkable. Oral arguments were on Dec. 1.
While the decision wasn’t officially handed down until June 24, …
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Roe v. Wade would have turned 53 years old on Jan. 22 had the Supreme Court not overturned the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Supreme Court justices, and the presidents who nominated them, deserve many thanks. But perhaps another unlikely figure deserves some thanks, too: the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his decision to nuke the filibuster on certain presidential nominees.
Long before the Dobbs v. Jackson decision was handed down in 2022, Reid laid the groundwork through the changes he made to Senate rules. Reid opened Pandora’s box, and the pro-life movement took advantage of it.
Reid, who, like many other Democrats, became increasingly pro-choice over the course of his Senate career, supported nuking the filibuster on some presidential nominees in 2013.
Frustrated with impediments to confirming then-President Barack Obama’s nominees, Reid convinced enough of his fellow Democrats to invoke the nuclear option so that breaking a filibuster to confirm Cabinet officials and certain judicial nominees could be done by a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes typically required to end debate before the final confirmation vote.
It was a narrow vote of 48-52 in the Senate on Nov. 21, 2013, that sealed the fate of Roe almost a decade later.
No Republicans voted to nuke the filibuster that November day. They were joined by three Democrats—Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
Following the vote, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued his memorable reply: “I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, you will regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think.”
McConnell’s prophetic words came to fruition. Less than four years later, President Donald Trump was in office for his first term and looking to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Republican-controlled Senate blocked Obama from filling Scalia’s seat. Obama had nominated Merrick Garland—who would later become former President Joe Biden’s infamous attorney general—for the high court.
Neil Gorsuch was announced as the nominee on Jan. 31, 2017. On April 6, McConnell expanded Reid’s scrapping of the Senate filibuster to allow the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominees.
Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-46, with no Democratic support.
Still, more needed to happen before Dobbs.
Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett would be nominated and confirmed to the court after the retirement of former Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018 and the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.
The justices nominated by Trump, and reviled and vilified by Democrats, would almost certainly not have gotten confirmed without the nuclear option.
On May 17, 2021, after numerous delays, the justices finally decided that they would hear the Dobbs case, centered around Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
On July 22, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, once thought unthinkable. Oral arguments were on Dec. 1.
While the decision wasn’t officially handed down until June 24, …
It Might Surprise You, But Here’s How Harry Reid Helped End Roe
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Roe v. Wade would have turned 53 years old on Jan. 22 had the Supreme Court not overturned the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Supreme Court justices, and the presidents who nominated them, deserve many thanks. But perhaps another unlikely figure deserves some thanks, too: the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his decision to nuke the filibuster on certain presidential nominees.
Long before the Dobbs v. Jackson decision was handed down in 2022, Reid laid the groundwork through the changes he made to Senate rules. Reid opened Pandora’s box, and the pro-life movement took advantage of it.
Reid, who, like many other Democrats, became increasingly pro-choice over the course of his Senate career, supported nuking the filibuster on some presidential nominees in 2013.
Frustrated with impediments to confirming then-President Barack Obama’s nominees, Reid convinced enough of his fellow Democrats to invoke the nuclear option so that breaking a filibuster to confirm Cabinet officials and certain judicial nominees could be done by a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes typically required to end debate before the final confirmation vote.
It was a narrow vote of 48-52 in the Senate on Nov. 21, 2013, that sealed the fate of Roe almost a decade later.
No Republicans voted to nuke the filibuster that November day. They were joined by three Democrats—Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
Following the vote, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued his memorable reply: “I say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, you will regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you think.”
McConnell’s prophetic words came to fruition. Less than four years later, President Donald Trump was in office for his first term and looking to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The Republican-controlled Senate blocked Obama from filling Scalia’s seat. Obama had nominated Merrick Garland—who would later become former President Joe Biden’s infamous attorney general—for the high court.
Neil Gorsuch was announced as the nominee on Jan. 31, 2017. On April 6, McConnell expanded Reid’s scrapping of the Senate filibuster to allow the nuclear option for Supreme Court nominees.
Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-46, with no Democratic support.
Still, more needed to happen before Dobbs.
Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett would be nominated and confirmed to the court after the retirement of former Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018 and the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020.
The justices nominated by Trump, and reviled and vilified by Democrats, would almost certainly not have gotten confirmed without the nuclear option.
On May 17, 2021, after numerous delays, the justices finally decided that they would hear the Dobbs case, centered around Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban.
On July 22, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch asked the justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, once thought unthinkable. Oral arguments were on Dec. 1.
While the decision wasn’t officially handed down until June 24, …
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