US Senate

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• 2/14/2021
  

  The Balance of Power in 2021 Rests with Two Senators

  by Michael Landis

  The actions of pro-slavery northern "doughfaces" in Congress, led by Stephen Douglas of Illinois, helped to protect the expansion of slavery even as a national majority grew to oppose it. Today, Joe Manchin and Jon Tester will have to consider home state elections, their own conservative tendencies, and the fate of the Biden administration's policy agenda and act accordingly.

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• SOURCE: USA Today
  2/8/2021
  

  Biden Can Advance Racial Justice, but Only if Democratic Senators Ditch an Old Tradition

  The Senate's "blue slip" rule allows senators to privately exercise a veto over judicial nominations for their state. Like the filibuster, it has been used to derail the nominations of liberal judges as well as women and judges of color. A liberal judicial advocate argues that it should be scrapped. 

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  2/4/2021
  

  If Senators Won’t Kill the Filibuster, They Should at Least Sweat for It

  by Elie Mystal

  The Nation's law and politics columnist Elie Mystal examines the changes in Senate rules that have made the filibuster a low-effort, low-cost, and high-frequency event since the 1970s. Democrats can get more freedom to legislate without abolishing the filibuster if they change the rules. 

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• SOURCE: New York Magazine
  1/31/2021
  

  All the Lies They Told Us About the Filibuster

  Columnist Jonathan Chait considers the politics of the Senate filibuster and Adam Jentleson's new book "Kill Switch," concluding that much of the mythology of the filibuster as a check on knee-jerk legislation is bogus. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/27/2021
  

  Make the Filibuster Difficult Again

  by Burt Neuborne and Erwin Chemerinsky

  Two law professors argue that there's no need to remove the Senate filibuster. Insisting that Senators actually talk through the filibuster and that no other Senate business could be conducted during one would return to Senate rules that made the filibuster rare, rather than a routine procedure. 

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• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  1/26/2021
  

  The Senate Has Used the Filibuster to Block Civil Rights Bills for Decades. That’s Another Reason for Dems to Ditch It

  When the Senate filibuster was used sparingly, it was almost always to stop civil rights legislation. Now, it's used as a matter of routine to stop legislation. Democrats can choose to keep the filibuster or pass laws, but not both. 

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• SOURCE: The Week
  1/26/2021
  

  Democrats are getting Chuck Grassleyed

  The Senate negotiations over the Affordable Care Act and the 2009 Recovery Act are not ancient history. It remains to be seen if Senate Democrats can learn from them. 

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• SOURCE: TIME
  1/7/2021
  

  'Another Milestone in the Long, Long Road.' Rev. Raphael Warnock's Georgia Senate Victory Made History in Multiple Ways

  by Olivia B. Waxman

  Historians including Adam Domby and Kali Nicole Gross relate the symbolic and political significance of Rev. Raphael Warnock's victory in Georgia's senate runoff. But that history suggests gains in Black political power will face backlash, warns Carol Anderson. 

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• SOURCE: Baltimore Sun
  12/7/2020
  

  Paul Sarbanes, Longtime U.S. Senator from Maryland who Championed Protection of Chesapeake Bay, Dies at 87

  The long-serving Marylander is remembered as a "Stealth Senator" who preferred effectiveness to publicity while championing financial regulation, investigating Watergate and Iran-Contra, and protecting the Chesapeake Bay. 

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• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/2/2020
  

  Minority Rule Cannot Last in America. It Never Has

  by Kenneth Owen

  When parties commit themselves to minority rule, the backlash can be severe, as has been shown repeatedly when ruling parties stood in the way of popular will. 

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• SOURCE: The Nation
  11/17/2020
  

  American Democracy Was Never Supposed to Work

  by Richard Kreitner

  "Merely ousting Trump is not enough without addressing more fundamental weaknesses in our political system, especially an outdated Constitution that continues to serve a minority of wealthy and white citizens and to curb any movements that might threaten their wealth and power."