0 change the rules, again, at that last moment, there was a promise made and this time there was initial delivery, there was a large slate of folks that were blocked that had up and down votes. the nominee for the federal housing agent which was blocked. it s very different now but to say that this person or that person has this problem with their background, but simply, we re not going to approve anyone that lets president obama fill the vacancies on the court, that is in a whole new realm and that s producing the change where i think we re going to finally see the change. we have seen the trajectory of this idea, just within the democratic caucus in the united states senate, the idea has gotten more and more popular. is that right? i mean i remember talking to you years ago where you were one of a very small handful of voices saying we have to do this. i think when tom udall and i started talking about this, we had initially maybe 20 folks who were supportive, we had 46 that supp
0 filibuster. democratic leader harry reid has threatened to invoke the nuclear option. so-called nuclear option. all we have to do is then the nuclear option. senate majority leader harry reid has gotten close to pushing the button on the nuclear option. but at the last moment, he s opted to talk things out instead. this time could be different. today, senate republicans blocked robert wilkins from joining the d.c. circuit court of appeals. it s the third nominee in a row that republicans have full bustered and they filibustered these appointments not because of the nominee s character or their positions. the president cannot appoint anyone to the d.c. circuit court of appeals. the second most powerful court in the country. this is not normal behavior. this has spent the majority leader s patient and we re going to we have had a lot of sentiment in the senate that we should try to restore the social contract. but unfortunately, each time we think we have that understandi