Senate Democrats strip supermajority rule

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats on Thursday invoked a controversial rules change on a 52-48 party-line vote to allow judicial nominations to be approved on a majority vote — not a supermajority. This procedural change is nicknamed the “nuclear option” and is one both parties have been trying to avoid.

This comes after Republicans in the Senate have blocked Obama judicial nominations.

President Barack Obama, reading a statement in the White House Brady briefing room said neither party is blameless when it comes to political maneuvers but when it comes to the Senate Republicans, “Over the past five years, we had an unprecedented pattern of obstruction in Congress that has prevented too much of the American people’s business from getting done.”