 |
The Pocket Constitution
usconstitution.net has printed a special edition copy of The Constitution of the United States that has been proofed word for word against the original Constitution housed in the Archives in Washington, D.C. It is identical in spelling, capitalization and punctuation. This 48 page Pocket Constitution also includes the Bill of Rights, Amendments 11-27, The Declaration of Independence, and a complete index of the Constitution.
Item Number: 202
Size: 3.25 X 6 while closed
Now only 4.99 which INCLUDES shipping and handling!
|
|
Constitutional FAQ Answer #139
<<Previous Question |
Question Index |
Subject Index |
Constitutional Index |
Next Question>>
Q139. "Why can't I find anything about
filibusters in the Constitution?"
A. The short answer is because there is nothing there to find: the
Constitution does not contemplate the filibuster in any way, directly or
indirectly. So, then, what is all this talk about the Framers, the Senate, the
filibuster, and its relationship to the Constitution?
By way of definition, the filibuster is a delaying tactic that is a part of
the rules of the Senate. It is a word that comes from the Spanish word for
"freebooter," which means "pirate." The origin seems to be that a person who
filibusters is plundering the time and focus of a deliberative body, like a
legislature. Specifically, in the U.S. Senate, a filibuster is used by a
single Senator or group of Senators to stop or delay action on a piece of
legislation. It has long been the tradition of the Senate that debate may not
be stopped unless those taking up the debate allow it to be stopped. In other
words, once a Senator has the floor, he or she may continue to talk forever.
This rule goes back to the very beginnings of the Senate.
The Constitution allows each house of Congress to set its own rules. Early
on, both houses had unlimited debate provisions. The House of Representatives,
however, as a much larger body, found this rule unworkable and rules to limit
debate came into effect. The Senate, until recently, never created such a
rule. The term for the use of unlimited debate as a legislative tactic became
known as a filibuster in the 1850's. The first attack on the filibuster came
in 1841, by no lesser a figure than Henry Clay. It survived, though, until
1917, when the Senate adopted a rule allowing a filibuster to be stopped by a
two-thirds vote. Such a vote is known as "cloture." Cloture ended the ability
of a single Senator to hold up Senate business, but since a two-thirds vote can
be difficult to get, it certainly did not stop the filibuster.
In 1975, the two-thirds rule was changed to three-fifths. Today, the
three-fifths rule allows cloture on the basis of the vote of sixty Senators.
In 2005, the filibuster again came under attack when threats to filibuster
judicial appointments prompted calls for a rule change specifically against
filibusters on judicial appointments.
So the filibuster has its constitutional origins in the ability of each house
of Congress to set its own rules. It has its origins in the framers in that
they saw the Senate as a place where extended debate and discussion would have
a cooling effect on the actions of the more "heated" House. And it has its
origins in the concept ingrained in our political system that the rights of the
minority must be protected from the force of the majority.
URL: http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_q139.html
