Don't Stand In The Doorway, Don't Block Up Hall

By  Aveen Burney ’25

During times of political gridlock, whenever an opaque black fog of partisanship settles over Washington, I often comfort myself by watching the show The West Wing. I immerse myself in a world where there is a solution to every problem. That is not the case right now.

A filibuster is a procedure where one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate to delay or entirely prevent a decision. If you have been reading the news, the filibuster has come up as a topic of controversy. Currently, Democrats want to abolish the filibuster, while the Republicans do not. Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema was even censured by the Arizona Democratic Party “as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy.” The announcement came after Sinema opposed a change to the filibuster that would move Democratic-backed voting rights legislation forward.

I think it’s hypocritical that the Democrats want to abolish the filibuster and the Republicans do not. President Biden originally supported the filibuster. Back when former President Obama was a senator in 2005, he said, “If the majority chooses to end the filibuster if they choose to change the rules and put an end to Democratic debate, then the fighting and the bitterness and the gridlock will only get worse.” Biden once remarked, “Without the filibuster, more than 40 Senators would lack the means by which to encourage compromise...” Now, however, the Republicans are using the exact rhetoric. In Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s threat, he indicated that the filibuster silenced the minority: “If my colleague tries to break the Senate to silence those millions of Americans, we will make their voices heard in this chamber in ways that are more inconvenient for the majority and this White House than what anybody has seen in living memory.” It is hard to be one-sided with the filibuster because both parties have been for and against it.

Does having the filibuster mean that we are protecting the minority or does it mean constant gridlock with no progress? ​​Does it mean that a procedural tool has now become a political one? Does it mean compromise is a good thing when voting rights are at peril?

The filibuster is a critical tool for the minority to protect itself from the tyranny of the majority. By empowering the minority, the Senate maintains checks and balances, an integral part of the Constitution and legislative process. However, giving the minority excessive power makes the Senate ineffective. One person can change the course of a bill passing, which has a direct impact on the American people. I do not think that the filibuster is democracy at work because no real work is being done.

Looking at today’s political back and forth on the filibuster is not enough. Historically, the filibuster has been used to block progress on racial justice and one could say that is the case today with voting rights since strict voter ID laws disproportionately impact voters of color. In 1964, there was a filibuster that almost killed the Civil Rights Act. It lasted 60 working days in the Senate thanks to a committed group of senators. If history repeats itself today, I think it would be detrimental and delay a meaningful cause.

I do not believe that the framers envisioned that the filibuster would become a tool to essentially turn an otherwise simple majority of 51 into a cloture majority of 60. And neither do I believe that the framers anticipated such division in this nation. In his Farewell Address, George Washington even warned against these political factions saying that it would create “a spirit of revenge,” where people would “usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterward the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Do senators Sinema and Joe Manchin have that spirit of revenge? Or are they holding onto history to look after the future? There is a good chance that after this year’s election, Democrats will be the minority. Having the filibuster will allow Democrats to have some power.

I don’t fully know where I stand on the filibuster yet, and that is alright. There are so many days when the future of the country seems bleak, but as C.J. Cregg from The West Wing says, “If politics brings out the worst in people, maybe people bring out the best.” What will Congress do, as a body of legislature and as people, to bring out the best during these times?