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The filibuster is a procedural rule in the U.S. Senate that allows any senator to block voting on legislation unless three-fifths of the Senate overrides them. Senators have used the filibuster more and more often since the 1990s, to the point that much legislation now requires sixty votes to pass through the Senate. Levitsky and Ziblatt cite this misuse of the filibuster as evidence that institutional forbearance is weakening in U.S. politics.
Filibuster Quotes in How Democracies Die
The How Democracies Die quotes below are all either spoken by Filibuster or refer to Filibuster. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 9
Quotes
A second, much darker future is one in which President Trump and the Republicans continue to win with a white nationalist appeal. Under this scenario, a pro-Trump GOP would retain the presidency, both houses of Congress, and the vast majority of statehouses, and it would eventually gain a solid majority in the Supreme Court. It would then use the techniques of constitutional hardball to manufacture durable white electoral majorities. This could be done through a combination of large-scale deportation, immigration restrictions, the purging of voter rolls, and the adoption of strict voter ID laws. Measures to reengineer the electorate would likely be accompanied by elimination of the filibuster and other rules that protect Senate minorities, so that Republicans could impose their agenda even with narrow majorities. These measures may appear extreme, but every one of them has been at least contemplated by the Trump administration.
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Filibuster Term Timeline in How Democracies Die
The timeline below shows where the term Filibuster appears in How Democracies Die. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6: The Unwritten Rules of American Politics
...Senate was designed to foster deliberation and protect minority rights, so its rules (like the filibuster) often let minorities block the majority’s will. These powers are important to check majority and...
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Through courtesy and reciprocity, senators avoided using their most extreme powers. They rarely used the filibuster until the 1960s. Using its “advice and consent” power, the Senate could technically block all...
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Chapter 7: The Unraveling
...as immoral and illegitimate. During Bill Clinton’s administration, Republican senators dramatically expanded use of the filibuster and started investigating presidential scandals that didn’t exist.
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...polarization only increased during his term. He moved further to the right, and the Democrats filibustered Republican legislation and rejected Bush’s judicial appointments. The Republican-led House refused to exercise oversight of...
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...too. During the Great Recession, Republicans banded together to obstruct Obama’s entire legislative agenda. They filibustered as many bills between 2007 and 2012 as the Senate did between 1919 and 1979,...
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The Democrats and President Obama responded by breaking more norms. The Democrats banned filibusters for most presidential nominees, and when Congress wouldn’t pass legislation, Obama started ruling through executive...
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Chapter 8: Trump Against the Guardrails
...finally, Trump tried “to tilt the playing field to his advantage.” He proposed eliminating the filibuster to increase Republican power in the Senate. But most disturbingly, he created the Presidential Advisory...
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