WASHINGTON (AP) — By limiting the ability of Republicans to block President Barack Obama’s nominees, Senate Democrats sought to placate the party’s core liberal activists dispirited by the troubled rollout of the health care overhaul and government snooping ahead of midterm elections in which a president’s party typically loses seats in Congress.

Republicans insist that the move engineered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Thursday won’t matter in next year’s congressional races as the political fallout over Obama’s health care law registers with voters. Senate Democrats voted unilaterally to change the Senate’s filibuster practices and take away the minority party’s ability to block presidential nominees for key appellate judgeships and top federal agency posts with just 40 or 41 votes.