Filibuster Overkill

The filibuster once was a tool of last resort in the US Senate, when a minority felt it was subject to tyranny by the majority. In the 1970’s there were less than two cloture motions a month, rising to three in the 1990’s. Now it’s become a routine device to delay, and even obstruct, majority rule, according to Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in recent testimony before the Senate Committee on Rules.