I'm not sure why this isn't getting more attention in the media. Senate Democrats -- with some significant help from Republican Senators -- absolutely shattered a Republican attempt to filibuster a nominee for the Court of Appeals (the intermediate federal appellate court, just below the Supreme Court). The vote was 70-29!
Not only was this a crushing defeat of the GOP's boneheaded attempt to block a highly-qualified and respected nominee (one who, as a sitting federal District Court judge, had already been confirmed once before by the Senate), but it represented the end, as a practical matter, of the famous "Gang of 14" compromise that moderate Senators from both parties entered into four years ago when Republicans ran the place.
As the Washington Post put it in the lede:
Democrats on Tuesday crushed a Senate filibuster against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can't stop President Barack Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left.
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