Editing Robert Byrd (section)

====Gang of 14====
On May 23, 2005, Byrd was one of 14 senators<ref>{{cite news|last1=Rudin|first1=Ken|title=Judging Alito: The Gang of 14 Factor|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5080836|access-date=June 29, 2016|publisher=NPR|date=January 4, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816174105/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5080836|archive-date=August 16, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> (who became known as the "[[Gang of 14]]") to forge a compromise on the judicial [[filibuster]], thus securing up and down votes for many judicial nominees and ending the threat of the so-called [[Nuclear option (filibuster)|nuclear option]] that would have eliminated the filibuster entirely. Under the agreement, the senators retained the power to filibuster a judicial nominee in only an "extraordinary circumstance". It ensured that the [[appellate court]] nominees ([[Janice Rogers Brown]], [[Priscilla Owen]] and [[William H. Pryor Jr.|William Pryor]]) would receive votes by the full Senate.