The thing to remember about the filibuster debate currently roiling the Senate is that it has happened before. And not all that long ago.

In 2005, Republicans were the majority party in the Senate — they had 55 seats, one more than Democrats hold today. The two parties had been fighting a long and ugly war over President George W. Bush‘s judicial nominees. After Bush’s re-election in 2004, Democrats, with just 45 votes, ran out of ways to stop those nominees short of resorting to a filibuster, which was unheard of even by the rough standards of judicial confirmation fights.