#cloture

“As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air – however slight – lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.” -- Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas

Image credit: Guernsey-Montgomery for the Economic Outlook, CIO, via Brown Political Review

As everyone who has seen Mr. Smith Goes to Washington knows, the filibuster lets a Senator halt all Senate business by continuing to talk endlessly. It lasts until ended voluntarily or--as of 1917--by supermajority vote. From 1917 to 1970, the Senate voted on ending filibusters only 49 times in total. (One of the more notable examples was southern Democrats attempting to filibuster the Civil Rights Act in June of 1964.)

In 1975, the Senate changed its filibuster rules in two ways. First, it allowed other Senate business to proceed despite a filibuster. Second, it eliminated the requirement that a Senator actually continue talking. Since 1975, Senators can block legislation simply by signaling that they would filibuster, at which point the legislation dies unless it has 60 votes in support of ending debate.

Even with these relaxed rules, there were a total of only 413 filibusters in the 73 years between 1917 and 1990. But in the six years between 2008 (when President Obama was elected and Democrats held the Senate) and 2014 (when Republicans took back the Senate), the Republican minority invoked filibuster 644 times, far more than ever before in U.S. history. The filibuster has since evolved from a rare practice that requires holding the floor for extended periods into a routine 60-vote supermajority requirement.

Voici de quelle manière on fabrique les clôtures en fer