O n November 21, 2013, the Senate reinterpreted Senate Rule XXII, lowering the number of Senators needed to invoke cloture on most nominations from three-fifths of the Senate to a simple majority. Since the reinterpretation of the rule, the use of cloture on nominations has changed considerably. This report was originally written prior to the reinterpretation of the rule. It presents data on all nominations on which cloture motions were offered from 1949, when the Senate altered the rule to allow cloture to be moved on any matter, including nominations, until November 20, 2013 (see Table 6 ). When the Senate adopts a motion for cloture on a matter, known as "invoking cloture," further consideration of the matter becomes subject to a time limit, and upon the expiration of that time, a vote will occur. The large number of nominations submitted to the Congress, particularly at the outset of a new presidential administration, can lead the majority to seek unanimous consent rather than cloture in order to approve nominations more quickly. Cloture Motions Do Not Correspond With Filibusters

Although cloture affords the Senate a means for overcoming a filibuster, it is erroneous to assume that cases in which cloture is sought are always the same as those in which a filibuster occurs. Filibusters may occur without cloture being sought, and cloture may be sought when no filibuster is taking place. It often appears that Senate leaders attempt to avoid bringing to the floor matters, including legislation as well as nominations, on which they foresee a likelihood that filibusters will occur. Except by unanimous consent, indeed, cloture can be moved only on a question already pending on the floor. From 1949 through November 20, 2013 (81 st Congress through the start of the 113 th Congress), cloture was sought on 143 nominations. (This total and other data presented in this report do not include four failed cloture attempts on four nominations that occurred prior to November 21, 2013, because subsequent successful cloture votes were held on all four nominations after the reinterpretation of the rule.) Table 6 , following the text of this report, identifies the 143 nominations, the number of separate cloture motions filed on each, the ultimate outcome of the cloture attempt in each case, and the disposition of each nomination. Even after Senate rules began to permit the use of cloture on nominations in 1949, it was not deemed necessary to seek cloture on any until 1968 (90 th Congress), when a motion to proceed to consider the nomination of Supreme Court Associate Justice Abe Fortas to be Chief Justice was debated at length. Cloture was sought on no other nomination until 1980. Cloture was invoked, and the nomination was confirmed. From the 90 th through the 107 th Congress (1967-2002), cloture was only once (103 rd Congress, 1993-1994) sought on more than five nominations. In the five Congresses from the 108 th through the 113 th (2003-2013), by contrast, cloture was only once (110 th Congress, 2007-2008) sought on fewer than 14 nominations. It is also pertinent, however, that the President's party had a Senate majority in the six Congresses before 2014 in which cloture was sought on 12 or more nominations. In all other Congresses (or, when cloture was attempted on only a few nominations in each of several consecutive Congresses, as shown in Table 2 , in the group of consecutive Congresses as a whole), the Senate ultimately voted against cloture on no more than one-quarter of the nominations in question. In both of the periods identified in Table 3 that cover several consecutive Congresses, as well as in the 108 th Congress (2003-2004) and the 112 th Congress (2011-2012), nominations to judicial positions were the main focus of cloture action. In the 103 rd (1993-1994), 109 th (2005-2006), 111 th (2009-2010), and 113 th (through November 21, 2013) Congresses, cloture motions on executive branch nominations were more prevalent. Few of the nominations on which cloture was attempted prior to the reinterpretation of the cloture rule were to positions of the first rank in the federal government. In relation to offices at lower levels of the executive branch, it can be discerned from Table 6 that cloture attempts have occurred particularly often on nominations to positions in the Department of State and the Department of Justice.
The motion for cloture is available in the Senate to limit debate on nominations, as on other matters. Table 6 lists all nominations against which cloture was moved from 1949, when the Senate changed the cloture rule to allow it to be moved on nominations, until November 21, 2013, when the Senate reinterpreted the rule to lower the threshold for invoking cloture on most nominations from three-fifths of the Senate to a majority of Senators voting. The reinterpretation of the rule significantly altered the use of cloture in the Senate, such that conclusions drawn from the data in this report are not applicable to similar data collected since that time. The initial version of this report was written prior to the 2013 reinterpretation of the rule; the report will not be further updated to reflect cloture action on nominations after that time.
Because cloture can be used to end consideration of a nomination, it can be used to overcome a filibuster against a nomination. Table 6 shows the outcome of each cloture attempt on a nomination through November 20, 2013, and the final disposition of the nomination. It would be erroneous, however, to treat this table as a list of filibusters on nominations. Filibusters can occur without cloture being attempted, and cloture can be attempted when no filibuster is evident. Moreover, it appears that Senate leaders generally avoided bringing to the floor nominations on which a filibuster seemed likely. There are no means to identify the merely threatened filibuster.
From 1949 through November 20, 2013, cloture was sought on 143 nominations that were disposed of prior to the rule reinterpretation. On 59 of these nominations cloture was invoked, and on 55 others no cloture motion received a vote. All but 3 of these 114 nominations were confirmed. Only on the remaining 32 nominations did the Senate ultimately reject cloture; of these, 26 were not confirmed.
Until 1968, cloture was moved on no nominations, and from then through 1978, it was moved on only two. Even thereafter, in no single Congress from the 96th through the 102nd (1979 through 1992) was cloture sought on more than three nominations, and in no Congress from the 104th through the 107th (1995 through 2002) was it sought on more than five. Between these last two periods, however, the 103rd Congress (1993-1994) foreshadowed a more recent pattern, with cloture action on 12 nominations. In every Congress between 2003 and 2013, except the 110th (2007-2008), cloture was attempted on at least 14 nominations. The same five Congresses that saw cloture action on 12 or more nominations were those in which the Senate minority was of the party opposite that of the President.
In all the Congresses or periods identified, no more than a quarter of nominations with cloture attempts failed of confirmation, except in the 108th Congress (2003-2004), when almost 80% of nominations subjected to cloture attempts (mostly judicial) were not confirmed. Prominent in this Congress were discussions of making cloture easier to get on nominations by changing Senate rules through procedures not potentially subject to a supermajority vote. In the 112th Congress, by contrast, cloture was moved on a record 33 nominations (again mostly to judicial positions), but on 23 of these nominations, the nomination was confirmed without a cloture vote.
Overall, cloture was sought on nominations to 74 executive and 69 judicial positions. Judicial nominations, however, predominated in the two Congress just noted and before 2003, except in the 103rd Congress (1993-1994). Executive branch nominations predominated in that Congress and the 111th (2009-2010), both at the beginning of a new presidential Administration, as well as in the 109th Congress (2005-2006) and the start of the 113th Congress (2013).
Few of the nominations on which cloture was sought prior to the rule reinterpretation were to positions at the highest levels of the government. These included 4 nominations to the Supreme Court and 11 to positions at the Cabinet level.