Campaign

Fix the Filibuster

For too long, U.S. Senators have abused the filibuster to block popular legislation and stifle the will of the voters.

Each year, important and popular legislation dies on the Senate floor, because the filibuster allows a minority of senators—representing a disproportionately white segment of the country’s population—can stop any legislative action in its tracks.

The 60-vote filibuster rule is undemocratic, and it needs to go.

The filibuster as it is used today is not a talk-til-you-drop marathon session on the Senate floor. Instead, it is a mechanism that allows a handful of senators to shut down a bill behind closed doors.

That’s right: the filibuster does not inspire bipartisan action. It is a recipe for gridlock and gives the Senate minority total veto power over the entire legislative process, even though they lost the election.

That is why Common Cause is dedicated to fixing the broken 60-vote filibuster.

Where did the filibuster come from?

The filibuster has been abused repeatedly to diminish the political power of Black and brown voters and the lawmakers who represent them. In fact, the filibuster’s most notorious historical use was by Strom Thurmond in an attempt to block the Civil Rights Act of 1957. He and others tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well.

During President Obama’s term, a minority of senators used it to shut down the DREAM Act, transparency in campaign spending (the DISCLOSE Act), gun violence prevention legislation, and workers’ rights.

All of these bills would have passed an up-or-down vote, but instead, they died on the Senate floor. Why? Because the filibuster allows the Senate minority to overrule the majority and block whatever bills it chooses. A handful of senators—who themselves represent a smaller portion of the country’s population—have absolute veto power over our entire legislative process.

That is not democracy.

What is Common Cause doing?

Common Cause has a long history of efforts to fix the filibuster. In 2012, we even sued the U.S. Senate in Common Cause v. Biden challenging the constitutionality of the rule.

Common Cause v. Biden

Legal Filing

Common Cause v. Biden

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Fixing the filibuster is not a radical idea. The filibuster is not in the Constitution, which does explicitly outline when a supermajority vote is necessary to pass legislation.

Moreover, the Senate’s rules around debate and the filibuster have been amended many times before—including by Sen. Mitch McConnell, who made the change to ram through two Supreme Court nominees with a simple majority.

Many major political figures from across the aisle have even expressed support for the filibuster’s elimination. This includes former President Barack Obama, who called it a “Jim Crow relic” at the funeral of civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis.

It only takes a simple Senate majority to change the chamber’s rules again and end the filibuster. Help us bring about this urgently needed reform by taking action today.

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The Freedom to Vote or the Freedom to Filibuster

Blog Post

The Freedom to Vote or the Freedom to Filibuster

Senate Republicans used a loophole in the Senate’s rules—the filibuster —to block even holding a debate on the Freedom to Vote Act. It’s the third time they’ve stopped their colleagues from debating voting rights legislation this year. Senators now face a choice: protect the freedom to vote and find a way to send this bill to President Biden’s desk, or let it die due to Republican obstruction and abuse of internal Senate rules.

Press

Omaha World Herald: Nebraska Legislature examines new rules to limit filibusters

News Clip

Omaha World Herald: Nebraska Legislature examines new rules to limit filibusters

Gavin Geis, executive director for Common Cause Nebraska, said the current rules serve as a safeguard that ensures a balanced approach to redistricting, a process that has received heavy scrutiny across the country for over-politicization.

"The removal of party registration as a factor in selecting committee members may lead to a lack of diversity in thought and perspective, resulting in skewed representation that doesn't accurately (represent) the political landscape of our state," Geis said.

Insider: Out of 18 pro-democracy bills in 2022, the US Senate filibuster torpedoed 17 of them: report

News Clip

Insider: Out of 18 pro-democracy bills in 2022, the US Senate filibuster torpedoed 17 of them: report

Common Cause also ranked individual members of Congress on their pro-democracy efforts, with 101 members — all Democrats — earning a perfect score. That's a more than 70% increase over the number of members of Congress who had perfect scores (58) in the 2020 Democracy Scorecard.

Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn cited the legislative filibuster as the roadblock to pro-democracy reform. 

"In the end, with high levels of support in Congress and an overwhelming outpouring of public support, Congress ran...

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