Filibuster

Introduction
History of the filibuster
Current debate over the filibuster
Pros
- Pro 1: Filibusters promote compromise and bipartisanship and protect the views of the minority party.
- Pro 2: Filibusters protect the intended purpose of the U.S. Senate: purposeful debate.
- Pro 3: Filibusters are an important safeguard against political extremism and corporate influence.
Cons
- Con 1: Filibusters promote obstructionism and partisanship, allowing the minority party to rule without a national mandate.
- Con 2: Filibusters prevent meaningful debate and slow the already slow work of the U.S. Senate.
- Con 3: Filibusters are a Jim Crow relic used to block meaningful legislation.
Assessment quiz
1-minute survey
Discussion questions
Sources

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Should the U.S. Senate Keep the Filibuster?

James Stewart as Jefferson Smith stands in the Senate chamber surrounded by piles of letters and baskets of mail, addressing a group of seated men in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The Burr-Hamilton duel.

Kentucky Whig Sen. Henry Clay

United States Senator Strom Thurmond in a suit and striped tie, seated in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

Filibuster: Media

Should the U.S. Senate keep the filibuster?

Images

Should the U.S. Senate Keep the Filibuster?

Should the U.S. Senate Keep the Filibuster?

Explore the debate.

© OlegAlbinsky—iStock/Getty Images

James Stewart as Jefferson Smith stands in the Senate chamber surrounded by piles of letters and baskets of mail, addressing a group of seated men in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Classic filibuster scene

Jimmy Stewart in the film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), in which...

© 1939 Columbia Pictures Corporation; photograph from a private collection

The Burr-Hamilton duel.

The Burr-Hamilton duel.

An illustration of the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton after a painting...

Beacon Lights of History, Vol. XI, by John Lord, 1902

Kentucky Whig Sen. Henry Clay

Kentucky Whig Sen. Henry Clay

Clay threatened to limit Senate debate in 1841.

© National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Pres. Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson encouraged Senate Rule 22, allowing senators to invoke cloture.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

United States Senator Strom Thurmond in a suit and striped tie, seated in front of a bookshelf filled with books.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond

Thurmond holds the record for longest individual filibuster, set in 1957, at 24 hours...

© Bettmann/Getty Images

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