Legislative Background on Filibuster Reform
Recent Action in Congress
As the 112th Congress convenes, one of the first mat- ters to be debated in the Senate is whether or not that body can or should employ the “constitutional option” to change its Standing Rules before the new session gets underway. The constitutional option refers to Article 1, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution, which gives the Senate the right to determine its own procedures by majority vote. If the Senate does not act, the rules of the previous Congress are presumed to apply. The tactic is rarely used, since the prevailing wisdom is that the Senate, unlike the…
