Mitch McConnell

=====Use of the filibuster=====
One of McConnell's most common tactics as minority leader to delay or obstruct legislation and judicial appointments has been the [[Filibuster in the United States Senate|filibuster]]. A filibuster is an attempt to "talk a bill to death", forcing Senate leadership to abandon a proposed measure instead of waiting out the filibuster―or at least to delay the measure's passage. In the United States Senate, any senator may speak for unlimited duration unless a 60-person majority votes to invoke [[cloture]], or end debate, and proceed to a final vote. Political scientists have referred to McConnell's use of the filibuster as "[[constitutional hardball]]", referring to the misuse of procedural tools in a way that undermines democracy.<ref name="amnesia" /><ref name="Fishkin-2018" /><ref name="Levitsky-2018">{{cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/9781524762933/|title=How Democracies Die|last1=Levitsky|first1=Steven|last2=Ziblatt|first2=Daniel|date=2018|publisher=Penguin Randomhouse|access-date=March 14, 2019|archive-date=December 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211150321/https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/9781524762933/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/11/wisconsins-and-michigans-legislatures-are-trying-to-weaken-incoming-governors-should-you-be-worried/|title=Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan want to weaken incoming Democratic governors. Here's what's the usual partisan politics – and what isn't.|last=Glassman|first=Matt|date=2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=March 14, 2019|archive-date=December 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211132519/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/11/wisconsins-and-michigans-legislatures-are-trying-to-weaken-incoming-governors-should-you-be-worried/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Political scientists Hacker and Pierson describe the rationale behind McConnell's filibusters, "Filibusters left no fingerprints. When voters heard that legislation had been 'defeated', journalists rarely highlighted that this defeat meant a minority had blocked a majority. Not only did this strategy produce an atmosphere of gridlock and dysfunction; it also chewed up the Senate calendar, restricting the range of issues on which Democrats could progress."<ref name="amnesia" />

In 2013, Senate Majority Leader [[Harry Reid]] [[Nuclear option|eliminated the filibuster]] for all presidential nominations except the Supreme Court. By that time, nearly half of all votes to invoke cloture in the history of the Senate had occurred during Obama's presidency.<ref name="Mann-2017">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/gop-decay-of-political-norms/540165/|title=How the GOP Prompted the Decay of Political Norms |author1=E.J. Dionne Jr. |author2=Norm Ornstein |author3=Thomas E. Mann |date=September 19, 2017|work=[[The Atlantic]]|access-date=October 8, 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=October 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008061326/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/gop-decay-of-political-norms/540165/|url-status=live}}</ref> In April 2017, Senate Republicans led by McConnell eliminated the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to end debate on the nomination of [[Neil Gorsuch]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mcconnell-went-nuclear-confirm-gorsuch-democrats-changed-senate-filibuster-rules-n887271|title=McConnell went 'nuclear' to confirm Gorsuch. But Democrats changed Senate filibuster rules first.|work=[[NBC News]]|author=Timm, Jane C.|date=June 28, 2018|access-date=December 27, 2018|archive-date=December 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181212052906/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mcconnell-went-nuclear-confirm-gorsuch-democrats-changed-senate-filibuster-rules-n887271|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/06/republicans-go-nuclear-bust-through-democratic-filibuster-on-gorsuch.html|title=Republicans go 'nuclear,' bust through Democratic filibuster on Gorsuch|work=[[Fox News]]|author=Berger, Judson|date=April 6, 2017|access-date=December 27, 2018|archive-date=August 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180804090917/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/06/republicans-go-nuclear-bust-through-democratic-filibuster-on-gorsuch.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-approves-nuclear-option-fight-gorsuch-supreme-court/story?id=46608672|title=Senate approves 'nuclear option,' clears path for Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination vote|work=[[ABC News]]|author=Rogin, Ali|access-date=December 27, 2018|date=April 6, 2017|archive-date=August 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804055718/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senate-approves-nuclear-option-fight-gorsuch-supreme-court/story?id=46608672|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2019, McConnell wrote an editorial for ''[[The New York Times]]'', strongly opposing the elimination of the filibuster on legislation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mitch McConnell: The Filibuster Plays a Crucial Role in Our Constitutional Order|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-senate-filibuster.html|author=McConnell, Mitch|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 22, 2019|access-date=September 18, 2020|archive-date=September 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903042823/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/opinion/mitch-mcconnell-senate-filibuster.html|url-status=live}}</ref>