Rules changes require foresight

The July 28 letter “Garland still deserves a hearing” noted that “(Mitch) McConnell got rid of the filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominations.”

However, it was Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada who used the “nuclear option” during the Obama administration to judicial nominations, other than those for the Supreme Court.

Reid’s use of the nuclear option has proven instructive as to the repercussions of abolishing the filibuster rule for all legislation. Democrats should keep this in mind as they push to abolish the filibuster entirely, since the GOP will be the majority party at some time in the future.

Former President Barack Obama used the filibuster rule several times as a U.S. senator when the Democrats were the minority party to stop legislation that he and the Democrats did not like.