to reconcile with the Senate Democrats by not renominating Boyle, Myers, and Haynes in January 2007. As the new majority party, the Senate Democrats easily blocked several conservative appellate judicial nominees during the 110th Congress by ordinary methods. Conservative appellate nominees like Peter Keisler, Robert J. Conrad and Steve A. Matthews were blocked in committee and never given a hearing, while 10 other nominees were confirmed, usually with unanimous support. If a Supreme Court justice had chosen to retire during the 110th Congress, it would have been just as easy for the Democrats to have blocked his replacement in committee. Even if the replacement nominee had made it out of committee, then the Democrats still could have defeated him with a party-line vote. As it developed, no Supreme Court justice retired or died during the 110th Congress. On November 17, 2009, two members of the Gang of 14 – Senators McCain (R-AZ) and Graham (R-SC) – voted against the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of David Hamilton, President Obama's pick for a vacant seat on the Seventh Circuit. At the time, neither Senator linked his vote to the "extraordinary circumstances" standard announced in the Gang's original agreement. Senator Graham indicated that he thought that Judge Hamilton's views were "so far removed from the mainstream" that a vote against cloture was warranted. End of judicial filibusters Though Democrats were a majority in the Senate after 2006, Republicans blocked several Appellate Court nominees of President Barack Obama by use of the filibuster. On November 22, 2013, at the direction of leader Harry Reid, Senate Democrats used the "nuclear option" to revise Senate rules and eliminate filibusters of Presidential nominees, leaving the possibility of filibusters of nominees for the Supreme Court intact. The vote was 52 to 48 – all Republicans and three Democrats (Carl Levin (D-MI), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Mark Pryor (D-AR)) voting against. After Republicans regained control of the Senate, McCain voted in favor of the nuclear option in order to get Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court. Today, judicial nominations can no longer be filibustered, although the legislative filibuster still exists. See also United States federal judge Judicial appointment history for United States federal courts Standing Rules of the United States Senate, Rule XXII George W. Bush judicial appointment controversies George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates References Further reading Congressional Research Service report RS22208, The "Memorandum