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Wednesday 10 March 2010

The more important point is that the filibuster is not in the Constitution. As a constitutional expert who wrote a book on the filibuster notes, the filibuster is actually something of a historical accident that came into being after the Constitution was ratified and only discovered as a tool of obstructionism long after that. The Founders considered the idea of supermajority requirement and rejected it except for a few purposes specified in the Constitution like overriding presidential vetoes, ratifying treaties and impeachment. As I’ve noted a couple of times previously, it was rarely used prior to the 1970’s. But in the year since President Obama took office there have been more GOP filibusters than there were in the twenty years between 1963 and 1983. Republican use of the filibuster in the current Congress is on pace to triple the previous record. This isn’t a matter of seeking greater deliberation. It is an attempt by Senate Republicans to thwart any successful action by Senate Democrats – who despite losing the Massachusetts Senate seat still have the largest Senate majority in over 30 years (the last time either party had Senate majority larger than 59 was in 1979). Republicans are even filibustering measures that they co-sponsored. daggatt

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