The Senate voted tonight to invoke cloture on the nomination of Patricia Smith to be solicitor in the Department of Labor. The final vote was 60-32. Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture, of course, and the clinching vote was cast by Senator Paul Kirk (D-MA). (The roll call vote can be viewed here–it was entirely down party lines.) This is to say, the unfortunate nomination of Smith would have been squashed had Senator-elect Scott Brown been sworn into office.
Senator Johnny Isakson blasted his Democratic colleagues:
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