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The Founders’ Most Deliberative Body
Whenever there’s talk of the founders and their intent to make the Senate the more deliberative chamber of Congress, I think it would be worthwhile to bear in mind some context: The great...
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Neither a Maker Nor a Supporter of Filibusters Be
In an editorial published yesterday in the NYT, Barry Friedman and Andrew D. Martin argue that all would be well for the Democrats, the Senate, and our democracy if Harry Reid would just make the...
View ArticleFilibuster Reform Note
David Waldman tosses out an intriguingly simple filibuster-reform idea: We also hear a lot of demands for Dems to “make the Republicans filibuster” — in the old school sense — but under current rules...
View ArticleJonathan Bernstein on Filibuster Reform
Jonathan Bernstein, sage of political science, put together a superb series of posts on filibuster reform last week as a guest blogger for Ezra Klein. I liked them so much I thought I’d gather up links...
View ArticleFilibuster Reformology, Part 1: The Underview
This is the first installment of a 5-part series I’ll be posting this week on the procedural mechanics of filibuster reform. A lot of good stuff has been written about filibuster reform over this past...
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Filibuster Reformology, Part 2: The 67-Vote Option
This is the second post in a 5-part series on the procedural mechanics of filibuster reform. In Part 1, I considered whether the Constitution mandates majority-rule proceedings in the Senate (it...
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Filibuster Reformology, Part 3: The 51-Vote Option
This is the third post in a 5-part series on the procedural mechanics of filibuster reform. In Part 1, I considered whether the Constitution mandates majority-rule proceedings in the Senate. In Part 2,...
View ArticleFilibuster Reformology, Part 4: 51-Vote Variants
This is the fourth post in a 5-part series on the procedural mechanics of filibuster reform. In Part 1, I considered whether the Constitution mandates majority-rule proceedings in the Senate. In Part...
View ArticleFilibuster Reformology, Part 5: The 60-Vote Option and Finale
This is the final post in a 5-part series on the procedural mechanics of filibuster reform. In Part 1, I considered whether the Constitution mandates majority-rule proceedings in the Senate. In Part 2,...
View ArticleSuperminority Report
Yesterday was the opening day of the 112th Congress, and a group of Democratic Senators has unveiled a package of proposals (pdf) to reform the Senate Rules. The reforms fall short of a direct attack...
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