Letter to Senate Regarding the Need for Filibuster Reform
SUMMARY
The Task Force on the Rule of Law wrote a letter to Senate leaders urging them to promptly reform the filibuster rule. Referring to a September 2021 City Bar report, The Consent of the Governed: Enforcing Citizens’ Right to Vote, the letter says that the current filibuster rule “effectively paralyzes half of the Legislative Branch of our federal government and, by so doing, leads inevitably to greater reliance on the Executive Branch … to establish policies and programs that are often properly within the purview of Congress.” The letter notes five possible reform measures that the Senate will likely consider in the coming weeks. The Task Force takes no position on any of the measures, but urges Senate leadership to enact at least one of them with all deliberate speed so that the Senate can be returned to a state of effectiveness.
REPORT
January 6, 2022
Hon. Charles Schumer
Majority Leader
United States Senate
322 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Hon. Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader
United States Senate
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Re: The Need for Filibuster Reform
Dear Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell:
I write on behalf of the New York City Bar Association’s Task Force on the Rule of Law to urge the Senate to act promptly to reform its current “filibuster” rule to permit the Senate to perform its duties as contemplated by the Constitution.
As discussed in the recent City Bar report, The Consent of the Governed: Enforcing Citizens’ Right to Vote,[1] the current filibuster rule not only threatens to prevent critical legislation on voting rights, but “effectively paralyzes half of the Legislative Branch of our federal government and, by so doing, leads inevitably to greater reliance on the Executive Branch … to establish policies and programs that are often properly within the purview of Congress.”
We understand from press reports that the Senate will likely consider in the coming weeks a number of potential filibuster reforms, including (1) a reduced cloture requirement for voting rights; (2) the so-called “talking filibuster”; and (3) a shift in the burden of cloture by requiring 41 votes to maintain a filibuster, rather than 60 votes for cloture. We are aware of an additional reform that we hope the Senate will also consider – the “sliding scale” filibuster rule suggested by former Senator Tom Harkin,[2] which would maintain the current 60-vote cloture requirement but gradually reduce it (in weekly steps) to a conventional majority vote over the course of one month, giving the minority on any issue ample time to make its point yet assuring that the majority can ultimately act if it believes the matter is of sufficient importance.
While we take no position on which of these reforms is preferable, we again urge the Senate to move promptly on at least one such reform of its filibuster rule so that the Senate, and the American people, can have the benefit of the effective Legislative Branch that our Constitution and our nation require for voting rights and other matters of critical national concern.
Sincerely,
Stephen L. Kass
Chair, Task Force on the Rule of Law
Footnotes
[1] See https://www.nycbar.org/reports/the-consent-of-the-governed-enforcing-citizens%ef%bf%bd%ef%bf%bd%ef%bf%bd-right-to-vote/, p. 41. The report discusses potential filibuster reforms at pp. 41 – 45. (Websites last visited Jan. 6, 2022).
[2] Tom Harkin, Here’s another option for filibuster reform that could achieve compromise, Wash. Post, July 22, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/22/tom-harkin-filibuster-reform-proposal/.
