Nuclear Fallout: The Senate’s Cloture Threshold and Nomination Votes
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Jeffrey A. Fine
Jeffrey A. Fine is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Clemson University. His work focuses on the US Congress, including how it interacts with other political institutions. His research has appeared in outlets including the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.
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Margaret S. Williams
Margaret S. Williams is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt Law School. Her work examines judicial selection, civil litigation, and gender and politics. Most recently, her work appeared in Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Tort Law, and Judicature.
Abstract
In November of 2013, Majority Leader Harry Reid and his Democratic colleagues employed a series of parliamentary steps to change the precedent for cloture with respect to presidential nominations. This so called “nuclear option” reduced the threshold for cloture on presidential nominations (except for those to the US Supreme Court) to a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes necessary in the past. The paper examines how this change affected senators’ voting behavior on both cloture and confirmation of presidential nominations, using the 113th Senate as a natural experimental setting. We find that Republican senators are significantly more likely to vote against cloture in the wake of this change, presumably as symbolic votes of protest against the Democrats’ reversal of longstanding precedent. On the whole, the Republican conference votes against cloture, even when they vote overwhelmingly in favor of the nominee on the final confirmation vote. This suggests that cloture may not represent a sincere objection to the nominee in the post-nuclear Senate.
About the authors
Jeffrey A. Fine is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Clemson University. His work focuses on the US Congress, including how it interacts with other political institutions. His research has appeared in outlets including the Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, and Presidential Studies Quarterly.
Margaret S. Williams is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt Law School. Her work examines judicial selection, civil litigation, and gender and politics. Most recently, her work appeared in Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Journal of Tort Law, and Judicature.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Liberals, Labor, and the Democratic Party’s Volatile Relationship with Free Trade
- Red Parents, Blue Parents: The Politics of Modern Parenthood
- The Changing Contours of the Immigrant Rights Protest Movement in the United States: Who Demonstrates Now?
- Nuclear Fallout: The Senate’s Cloture Threshold and Nomination Votes
- Martin Shapiro: An Appreciation
- Book reviews
- The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan
- Is Bipartisanship Dead? A Report from the Senate
- To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Liberals, Labor, and the Democratic Party’s Volatile Relationship with Free Trade
- Red Parents, Blue Parents: The Politics of Modern Parenthood
- The Changing Contours of the Immigrant Rights Protest Movement in the United States: Who Demonstrates Now?
- Nuclear Fallout: The Senate’s Cloture Threshold and Nomination Votes
- Martin Shapiro: An Appreciation
- Book reviews
- The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan
- Is Bipartisanship Dead? A Report from the Senate
- To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party
