The Republican senator from Alabama spent 2023 turning himself into one of the most hated men in Washington—even by members of his own party.
Senator Tommy Tuberville’s nearly yearlong protest against the Department of Defense’s abortion policy brings to mind an old Chinese proverb that translates to, “He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.” It means that when you take on something risky—or in this case, downright stupid—it’s easier to keep going than to face the consequences of trying to stop.
For nine months, Tuberville single-handedly blocked more than 450 military promotions, throwing the entire U.S. military into disarray. According to the Alabama Republican, this was the best way to protest the department’s policy of reimbursing service members who have to travel out of their state of deployment for an abortion.
Tuberville partially relented on December 5, when he agreed to allow most of those promotions to go forward with the exception of four-star generals. He then dropped those remaining holds this week, and the Senate promptly confirmed 11 nominees to that position.
After all those months of protesting, Tuberville accomplished … nothing. The Defense Department’s abortion policy is still in place. The only difference is that now, all of the department leadership and pretty much every other senator is angry with him.
He’s not doing anything that he isn’t constitutionally permitted to do. The constitution requires the president to get the Senate’s advice and consent on these appointments. He can’t be charged for refusing to grant his consent.
What he is doing is just a form of filibuster. The rest of the Senate can stop him if they want. They just don’t want to, because the minority would have to support a majority request to invoke cloture.
The minority party always plays these stupid games in the Senate, no matter which party that is.
The moment they do this, the filibuster goes away. Conservatives would rather burn the country than lose the only bargaining chip they own.