Harry Reid, former Senate majority leader, dead at 82

Harry Reid, a longtime Democratic U.S. senator from Nevada who rose to serve as Senate majority leader from 2007 to 2015, died Tuesday at age 82.

Reid, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2018, served in Congress from 1983 until his retirement in 2017. He announced in 2019 his cancer was in remission.

He became most well-known for his use of the "nuclear option" in 2013, leading the charge to end the filibuster on executive branch nominees and judicial nominees other than to the Supreme Court.

Reid’s responsibility for the nuclear option is not without irony.

As a freshman senator in December 1987, the Nevada Democrat found himself before the Senate Rules Committee. The subject: Potential rules changes to halt some prerogatives of unlimited debate - a Senate fundamental that distinguishes the body from the House.