LOL, the article glowingly says that if the dems retain control of the senate “as expected” then they can change the rules with only a simple 51 votes. I wonder how TIME would feel if the GOP manages to take a 51-49 majority and then THEY change the rules to eliminate the filibuster with those 51 votes. Do you want to bet the tone of TIME will change from glowing approval to stating that this is the greatest travesty in the history of the world?
Exactly! The liberals were outraged at talk in 2005 that the Senate might change the filibuster rules for judges. At that time, Republicans had 55 Senators, and the talk was that a bare majority of 51 votes would be needed to change the rules then.
It never happened because of the “Gang of 14” agreement on judges, in which Dems. promised not to filibuster judge nominees except in “extraordinary circumstances”.
So we never saw the showdown over filibusters then. If Dems. retain control of the Senate after November’s elections, I expect they will try to change the rule with a bare minimum of 51 votes.
Politics affects how the liberals look at these things. When they were in the political minority, they were outraged that the filibuster could change to take away their power. Now that they are in the majority, they see the filibuster as an impediment to forcing through their liberal agenda.