our democracy is left in a vulnerable position.
In sum, there is no express or implicit constitutional right to filibuster. The filibuster actually takes the Senate far from its constitutional ideal.
1. Examining the History of the Senate Filibuster: 1789-2008, Hearing before the Senate Comm. on Rules & Administration 1 (April 22, 2010) (statement of Senator Pat Roberts).
2. Examining the Filibuster: The Filibuster Today and its Consequences, Hearing before the Senate Comm. On Rules & Administration 2 (May 19, 2010) (statement of Senator Robert Byrd).
3. See Sarah Binder & Steven Smith, Politics or Principle? Filibustering in the United States Senate 29-39 (1997)
4. The Federalist No. 22 (Alexander Hamilton).
5. See Chafetz & Gerhardt, supra n. 8, at 249 (Chafetz Opening Stmt.) (citing Jed Rubenfeld, Rights of Passage: Majority Rule in Congress, 46 Duke L.J. 73, 83 (1996)).
6. Editorial, A Liberal Supermajority, Wall St. J., Oct. 17, 2008, at A12.
7. Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein, Is Congress Still the Broken Branch?, in Congress Reconsidered Table 3-3 (9th ed. 2009).
8. See Binder & Smith, supra n. 3, at Table 1-3.
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