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On Thursday night, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand laid down a clear marker: She says she’ll oppose the waiver that retired Gen. James Mattis would need in order to serve as secretary of defense. Trump plans to nominate Mattis for the job, but a 70-year-old federal law bars retired members of the military from holding senior defense posts if they’ve served on active duty within the last seven years. Mattis only retired three years ago.
The law stands in support of a critical principle: that our armed forces must always be subordinate to the will of civilians. It’s a bedrock foundation of any democracy, and it’s more important than ever to uphold it now that we have a president-elect dead set on eroding constitutional norms. The last thing we need is to send a signal that we’re unshackling the military from centuries of civilian control.
Fortunately, there’s something Democrats can do about it. While the filibuster for cabinet appointees was eliminated a few years back, meaning a nominee can be confirmed with just 50 votes in the Senate, the waiver Mattis requires is subject to a filibuster. Mattis would therefore need 60 votes in order to become secretary of defense, so he’d need the support of at least eight Democrats to overcome a filibuster.
And there damn well will be a filibuster: According to a Gillibrand aide, she’s going to insist—as is her prerogative—that any waiver clear the 60-vote threshold in order to pass. Democrats need to hold the line here and support Gillibrand’s filibuster, period.
This is about more than just civilian control of the military, as vital as that is. This is about resisting Trump at every opportunity. Most congressional Democrats aren’t accustomed to playing this kind of oppositional role, but they’d better get used to it quickly, because the only way to save this country is to fight back against everything Trump stands for as hard as we can. But it’s not as hard as it looks: They just need to follow Gillibrand’s example.