| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
|
|
Today, successful filibusters usually involve the participation of a small group of senators. Filibustering senators discovered in the mid-twentieth century that Senate rules permitted them to yield the floor to other like-minded individuals who would continue the filibuster. Thus, the contemporary filibuster is typically a group effort. However, in many instances, the majority leader does not require any senator to hold the floor and instead simply chooses to acknowledge the presence of a filibuster by not bringing the controversial item up for debate. In such instances, filibustering is a low- or even no-cost tactic that can be employed by either a single senator or a small group. However, the filibusterer still must recognize the possibility that the controversial measure could be called up and be prepared with a strategy to oppose it. This is why filibusters generally are more successful if they involve multiple senators rather than just one.
Once a member or members of the Senate have made the decision to filibuster, they often alert the leadership. This is not simply a matter of courtesy; because most legislation is brought up for floor debate under unanimous consent agreements, upon learning of a threatened filibuster the leadership may decide not to bring up an issue for debate simply because the threat of a filibuster demonstrates that unanimous consent will be impossible to achieve. When this occurs, the prospective filibusterer can claim a victory without having had to utter a word of opposition to the proposal.
If the legislation does make its way to the Senate floor and the measure's opponents are forced to contest it, the filibusterer will seek recognition from the presiding officer of the Senate. Once a filibusterer has been granted the privilege of the floor, he or she will begin the filibuster. It continues until one of four events occurs: the filibusterer voluntarily relinquishes the floor (usually because they have been granted some important concession), the filibusterer inadvertently yields the floor to someone who is hostile to the filibuster, the opponents of the filibuster are successful in breaking it through parliamentary maneuvers (most often by invoking cloture), or the majority leader “pulls the bill down” (i.e., takes the bill off the floor), effectively killing it. Binder and Smith (1997) noted that