Yesterday, btw, a good example of just how many other rules — and especially the unanimous consent rule — matter in the Senate. The 60-vote rule has been gone for almost a decade now on noms, but a single senator can still hold up most for months for any reason.
Harry Reid's nuclear option kept in place the filibuster for noms, but reduced the cloture threshold to a simple majority. Common now for many, many noms now to require a cloture vote, then debate, then final passage, etc.
Both parties have since slow-walked noms as leverage on other things. McConnell even used a tactical nuke to lower the post-cloture time thresholds after a previous bipartisan deal expired.
As a practical matter it means Cabinet members get confirmed pretty quickly because Ds will burn floor time, but lower-level picks can languish amid holds from Ted Cruz/Tom Cotton or someone else.
The check on that would be another nuke. McConnell and Reid have both used nukes on post-cloture time, for example. But nukes can lead to retaliation that slows other things down, so arguably the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
Dems and Rs both like ability to get admin attention with holds. Harry Reid once blockaded numerous Bush noms in fight over Nuclear Regulatory Commission & Yucca Mountain, for ex: m.lasvegassun.com/news/2003/sep/…
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