The filibuster has been used in the Senate, for the majority of American history, to block or delay action on a bill or other matter. Traditionally, the filibuster is started when a senator opposes the bill and continues to hold the floor for hours without a break. When a senator “holds the floor” they will talk for hours on either why they oppose the bill or just cite the constitution or any other topic of discussion they find interesting, to keep the vote on a bill from moving forward. The longest filibuster ever recorded was Sen. Strom Thurmond who held the floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957. To end a filibuster there needs to take place a process known as cloture which requires 60 of the 100 members in the Senate to vote to end the filibuster.
More recently, the filibuster has been the center of a long debate on whether it should be modified or ended entirely. Many who are for modifications to the filibuster or its demise mention that currently in this age it is almost impossible to pass any legislation in the Senate. And that gridlock in the Senate is felt by the people because most often it affects the people. And recently, in President Biden’s first solo press conference on March 25, 2021 he drew attention to the fact the filibuster has been a tool used to promote racism.
While the origins of the filibuster were to be used to protect minorities, the filibuster has been used repeatedly and most often to block civil rights bills. Now, those who oppose the demolishment of the filibuster claim that it is to protect the interests of the minorities. But that defense argument is a contradiction, because if Republicans use the filibuster to block civil rights bills form being passed they are not protecting minority rights instead they are protecting the minority party in the Senate and their beliefs, it misconstrues the term, “minority rights”, and what it is meant to protect. Not a party but the people.
Some people have introduced ideas for modifications to the filibuster, as to not eliminate it completely. The modifications entailed notions of lowering the amount needed to invoke a cloture, limiting the debate time over a motion equally for the majority and minority party or requiring the aforementioned tradition of having to hold the floor by talking without breaks which would allow for Senators to further consider invoking a filibuster or not, as it can be time consuming.
The filibuster was initially created with good intentions to protect from abuses of power and yet now the filibuster is being abused. While total elimination could be too harsh and leaving the filibuster as it is seems too lenient, reform needs to be taken so that bills can actually be passed in Congress and progress can be made.