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Did the voters of Massachusetts know, when they elected Elizabeth Warren to the Senate, that she advocates nuclear war? In the wake of another Republican filibuster of another Obama judicial nominee, Warren is supporting reform of Senate filibuster rules — the so-called "nuclear option" — and calls the on-going obstructionism an attempt to "nullify the results of the last election."
Warren backed the nuclear option came after the Tuesday filibuster of Cornelia Pillard, nominated, as many before her have been, to fill an empty seat on the D.C. District Court of Appeals. The D.C. District is one of the country's most powerful, as it considers challenges to federal legislation. Senate rules allow members to filibuster most legislation and decisions, which has meant that, with increasing frequency, 60 votes are needed to end the filibuster and advance any vote. It allows Senate Republicans, who lack 50 votes but have more than 40, to block legislation if they vote in unison. The nuclear option would change the rule to make nominees immune to filibuster — a rules change that itself can't be filibustered, letting the Democratic majority do what it wants.