Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties

Abstract

Senate Rule XXII, as currently administered, imposes a de facto supermajority voting rule on the Senate, requiring sixty votes to enact legislation, or to provide constitutional advice and consent to a presidential nomination. To be sure, final senate votes on bills and nominations are formally governed by majority rule, but in order to be eligible for a final vote, virtually every proposed nominee or bill must clear a de facto sixty-vote threshold. Over the years, the supermajority threshold, called a filibuster, has evolved from the relatively rare “speaking” filibuster, where a Senator, or a relay of Senators, hijacks the senate floor to block a vote, to the modern “virtual” filibuster, where a single Senator can play at being a virtual pirate, refusing to yield a virtual floor without the inconvenience of actually doing or saying anything. Not surprisingly, the modern virtual filibuster has morphed into a de facto supermajority rule for the transaction of almost all senate business. I call it the zipless filibuster.

First Page

27

Volume

10

Publication Date

2014

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