U.S. Senators who won two-way races, got their own jobs by majority vote. Most other elected officials were chosen by majority vote. Most legislatures conduct their business by majority vote unless constitutional provisions specify otherwise. The Founders knew how to require a supermajority vote in the Senate -- for example for treaties or impeachment -- but majority vote in both houses of Congress is the norm for everything else.
But for a long time Senators have manipulated Senate rules to empower the minority by allowing filibusters, including of civil rights legislation, of President Bush's highly qualified judical nominees and now of President Obama's nominees. As the public became more and more disgusted with obstructionism in Congress, the Senate finally decided this week that for some matters, including confirming judges, to go back to majority rule.
There is not much that is "nuclear" about that. If the Senate wants to informally agree upon its own supermajority rule for confirming judges, there are plenty of ways to do so, as I discuss in this article with Michael Gerhardt.
http://lawreview.richmond.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Gerhardt-Painter-464.pdf
But the filibuster is a childish way to do it -- and the Senators know it. The voters certainly do.