Senate eliminates filibuster for most nominees in 52-48 vote

On November 21, 2013, the Senate voted 52-48 to eliminate the 60-vote filibuster threshold for most presidential nominees. Majority Leader Harry Reid raised a point of order that cloture could be invoked by simple majority. The presiding officer ruled against him, but the Senate overturned that ruling and set a new precedent.

The change came after Republicans blocked 82 cloture motions on nominations during the Barack Obama Obama administration, nearly half of all cloture motions on nominations since 1949. Three pending D.C. Circuit nominees and 59 executive branch nominees awaited confirmation.

Three Democrats voted against the change: Carl Levin, Joe Manchin, and Mark Pryor. The text of Senate Rule XXII was never changed; only the precedent for its interpretation changed. Republicans later extended this precedent to Supreme Court nominees in April 2017.

Key facts

On November 21, 2013, the Senate voted 52-48 to set a new precedent allowing simple majority cloture on presidential nominees other than Supreme Court picks. This became known as the nuclear option.

Majority Leader Harry Reid raised a point of order that cloture for nominations required only a simple majority. The presiding officer overruled him. Reid then appealed to the full Senate.

The Senate voted 48-52 against sustaining the presiding officer's decision, effectively overturning centuries of precedent. Three Democrats joined all Republicans: Carl Levin, Joe Manchin, and Mark Pryor.

The change responded to Republican obstruction during the Barack Obama Obama presidency. Since 1949, there had been 168 cloture motions on nominations. Nearly half (82) occurred during 2009-2013 under Obama.

At the time of the vote, 59 executive branch nominees and 17 judicial nominees awaited confirmation. Republicans had blocked three nominees to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The text of Senate Rule XXII was never amended. The Senate simply set a new precedent for interpreting the existing rule. Sixty votes are still required for legislation and Supreme Court nominees.

On April 6, 2017, Senate Republicans used the same procedure to eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked it to confirm Neil Gorsuch.

Senate Republicans batch-confirm 48 Trump nominees after nuclear option

On Sep. 11, 2025, Senate Republicans invoked the nuclear option to change chamber rules and allow batch confirmation of Trump nominees without debate. One week later, they confirmed 48 of Trump's picks in a single 51-47 vote on Sep. 18. Those confirmed included Kimberly Guilfoyle as ambassador to Greece, Callista Gingrich as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and Brandon Williams as undersecretary for nuclear security. This was the first use of the new rule. The move follows Harry Reid's 2013 elimination of the 60-vote threshold for most nominations and Mitch McConnell's 2017 extension to Supreme Court nominees. Each step has eroded the minority party's power.

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Senate confirms 49 Trump nominees in single en bloc vote

On May 18, 2026, the Senate confirmed 49 of President Trump's executive nominees in a single en bloc vote under S.Res.690 — the largest use of the en bloc confirmation mechanism in the 119th Congress. The nominees included U.S. Attorneys, U.S. Marshals, ambassadors, and senior officials across the Departments of Defense, State, Commerce, Transportation, and Energy. The Senate had adopted S.Res.690 on May 11, 2026, by a 46-45 vote, and invoked cloture on May 14 by 51-46, both party-line tallies. The mechanism, available since September 2025, lets the majority skip individual floor debate and cloture procedures that would otherwise consume dozens of legislative hours per nominee. Democrats argued the bundling shielded nominees from accountability. Republicans said it was necessary to fill vacancies the minority was blocking through slow-walking tactics.

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