Two months after failing to enact meaningful reform to the Senate’s filibuster rules, a minority of the United States Senate is doubling down on its old ways by blocking a final vote on the nomination of Caitlin Halligan, a well-qualified nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary gave the nominee its highest possible rating.

“We saw this morning another glaring example of anti-democratic rule by a minority in the United States Senate,” said Bob Edgar, president of Common Cause. “A bipartisan majority supported this nomination, but a minority barred them from approving her with another filibuster.”

The Constitution requires only a simple majority, 51 votes, for confirmation of judicial nominees; the Senate filibuster rule replaces that with a 60 vote requirement, effectively giving control to the minority.

Common Cause a déposé une plainte fédérale pour que la règle de l'obstruction parlementaire soit déclarée inconstitutionnelle. L'affaire est en appel devant la Cour d'appel des États-Unis pour le district de Columbia, après qu'un tribunal inférieur a statué en décembre que Common Cause et d'autres plaignants, dont quatre membres de la Chambre des représentants, n'avaient pas qualité pour agir.