As we previously reported here, on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley in a special election to fill the United States Senate seat previously held by Democrat Edward Kennedy for 46 years.
As a consequence of Scott Brown's remarkable victory in a Democratic stronghold, Republicans now hold 41 seats in the Senate. Although still in the minority, those 41 seats are sufficient to enable the Senate Republicans to use the filibuster to effectively block legislation the Senate Republicans oppose and to block presidential appointments Senate Republicans oppose.
Today, Senate Republicans joined by a number of Senate Democrats successfully used the filibuster to block President Obama's nomination of attorney Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. Mr. Becker's nomination was controversial because Mr. Becker, a former union side labor attorney, was viewed by some as being too closely aligned with union interests. One Wall Street Journal commentator has referred to Mr. Becker as "Labor's Secret Weapon."
