--- title: Republicans Are Thanking Harry Reid After Kennedy Retirement description: Many Republicans are thanking former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for changing the filibuster rules. canonical: https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-28T18:37:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:42:25.385Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Are Thanking Harry Reid After Kennedy Retirement og:description: "Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to consider filibuster reform" og:url: https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee0aa750359b8b1/6988ae9e97cdff860c6ae9c5/harry-reid.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4341 og:image:height: 2442 og:image:alt: Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada Democrats og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Are Thanking Harry Reid After Kennedy Retirement twitter:description: "Thanks to all of you who encouraged me to consider filibuster reform" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee0aa750359b8b1/6988ae9e97cdff860c6ae9c5/harry-reid.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Republicans Are Suddenly Thanking Harry Reid for a 2013 Tweet About Filibuster Reform > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8245fd85-f6e4-47a2-9f53-f1d52e93c44b&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 28, 2018 6:37 PM UTC  Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., leads the Democrats of the Nevada delegation to the podium for a media availability in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., leads the Democrats of the Nevada delegation to the podium for a media availability in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc. by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jun 28, 2018 6:37 PM UTC When the Senate votes on [President Donald Trump’s replacement](http://time.com/5323824/anthony-kennedy-retiring-supreme-court-trump/) for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, just a simple majority will be sufficient to get through the confirmation process. It’s a vote that Democrats – who have 49 seats – seem more than likely to lose. Gone is the filibuster rule that required 60 votes to move forward. Many Republicans are thanking former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for that. And they’re retweeting his tweet from 2013 – shedding light on how one [decision by the party five years ago](http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/21/senate-democrats-move-to-curb-the-filibuster-nuclear-option-looms/?iid=sr-link4) helped put Democrats in this position. > [](https://twitter.com/SenatorReid/status/403615847190921216) In 2013, [Reid invoked the “nuclear option,”](http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/21/senate-democrats-move-to-curb-the-filibuster-nuclear-option-looms/?iid=sr-link4) a historic move that changed a long-standing Senate rule, dropping the number of votes needed to [overcome a filibuster](http://time.com/4723610/neil-gorsuch-supreme-court-nuclear-option-filibuster/) from 60 to a simple majority for executive appointments and most judicial nominations — a decision he justified because of trouble getting through court confirmations in the latter half of the Obama Administration. At the time, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republicans warned Reid that he would regret implementing the nuclear option. “What goes around comes around. And someday they’re going to be in the minority,” Republican Sen. John Thune warned. Well, it’s come around. Democrats are in the minority and many are pointing to Reid’s tweet as evidence of the folly of changing the Senate rules. Reid’s “nuclear option” did not extend to Supreme Court nominees at the time, though McConnell used the precedent of Reid’s decision to lower the vote threshold for the [confirmations of Justice Neil Gorsuch](http://time.com/4728558/neil-gorsuch-filibuster-senate-confirmation-vote/) last year. Thousands of people have retweeted Reid and thousands more commenting — lost on no one is the irony of the situation. > [](https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1012073042535645185) > [](https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1012121686978768896) > [](https://twitter.com/marcthiessen/status/1012118185129185280) > [](https://twitter.com/ethanbaron/status/1012112449414131712) > [](https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1012106406613446657) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/"},"headline":"Why Republicans Are Suddenly Thanking Harry Reid for a 2013 Tweet About Filibuster Reform","datePublished":"2018-06-28T18:37:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:42:25.385Z","description":"A precedent set by Democrats in 2013 will allow Republicans to confirm President Trump's eventual Supreme Court nominee","url":"https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Congress","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee0aa750359b8b1/6988ae9e97cdff860c6ae9c5/harry-reid.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee0aa750359b8b1/6988ae9e97cdff860c6ae9c5/harry-reid.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada Democrats","caption":"Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada Democrats","creditText":"Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5324365/harry-reid-filibuster-reform-supreme-court/","name":"Why Republicans Are Suddenly Thanking Harry Reid for a 2013 Tweet About Filibuster Reform"}}]}] ```