(CNN) -- The Democratic Party's vote Thursday for the "nuclear option" was a move to deprive the minority party in the Senate of a procedure it has abused to block President Barack Obama's judicial nominees and other appointees. Before, a single Republican could unilaterally and without any reason block a nominee from receiving a simple up-and-down vote on the Senate floor. The "nuclear option," an overblown term for changing Senate rules to enable judicial and executive nominees to be confirmed with just 51 votes instead of 60, will put an end to using that procedure -- the filibuster -- to block appointees.
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With "nuclear option," judicial nominees can be confirmed with a simple majority vote
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Sally Kohn: This will keep GOP from using a procedure to block President's appointments
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Kohn: GOP made government virtually dysfunctional, blocked Obama at every turn
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This will hold Republicans' feet to the fire to do their constitutional duty, she says
Meanwhile, @placeholder have blocked three appointees to the court and held up countless other nominations to other important posts.
If Democrats didn't flip the nuclear switch now to allow appointments to go through, @placeholder will surely flip it later.