Filibusters
December 23rd, 2009 | 1 Comment
A Dangerous Dysfunction : I find the idea of filibusters kind of silly.
[Needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster is] a requirement that appears nowhere in the Constitution, but is simply a self-imposed rule
[…] The political scientist Barbara Sinclair has done the math. In the 1960s, she finds, “extended-debate-related problems” — threatened or actual filibusters — affected only 8 percent of major legislation. By the 1980s, that had risen to 27 percent. But after Democrats retook control of Congress in 2006 and Republicans found themselves in the minority, it soared to 70 percent.
December 24th, 2009 at 9:53 am (#)
Per an 1892 Supreme Court ruling, “The Constitution empowers each house to determine its rules of proceedings.”
Saying that “[needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster is] a requirement that appears nowhere in the Constitution, but is simply a self-imposed rule” is obvious because aside from the need for supermajorities in certain cases laid out in the Constitution, ALL legislative procedures are self-imposed.