The Senate’s practice of unlimited debate has shielded the American people from extreme policies passed with narrow majorities, including the legal and economic whiplash of wild swings of “freeze me, bake me” enactment and repeal.
The specter of a filibuster blocked many of the Biden administration’s radical priorities, including federalizing election law, restructuring the Supreme Court, and the power grab of statehood for Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
The Senate’s filibuster rule is not just a check. It is a potent tool for engagement across political divides.
The framers understood the dangers of hasty majoritarian rule and created a system that set up the United States Senate to protect liberty not through efficiency but through deliberation and compromise.