Media Contacts:
David Vance, National Media Strategist, 240-605-8600, dvance@commoncause.org
Katie Scally, Communications Director, 408-205-1257, kscally@commoncause.org
When people think of the filibuster, many recall the classic film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. But Senator Smith—the heroic legislator played by Jimmy Stewart—was the little guy using the filibuster to stop the powerful special interests. Today, that has been turned upside down. It is the special interests using the filibuster to stop legislation that would benefit the little guy.
In America's early days, a filibuster was a pirate -- "filibustero" in the original Spanish -- a soldier of fortune who plundered foreign lands without his government's consent.
