Our mission is to pass Senator Hatch’s legacy on to the next generation. And an important part of that legacy is safeguarding the Senate as an institution. To that end, our 2022 Hatch Center Policy Review, entitled “The Legislative Filibuster: Essential to the United States Senate,” makes the definitive case for preserving the Senate legislative filibuster.
The Founders intended the Senate to be a deliberative body that would temper the majoritarian impulses of the House—and the legislative filibuster is an important tool that makes this possible. Despite what its detractors may say, the filibuster is crucial to our democracy and a force for prudent lawmaking and moderation. It requires the Senate to reach 60 votes to enact legislation, all but necessitating collaboration between the two major parties.
Even so, the drumbeat to abolish the filibuster has grown louder in recent years, with little attention paid to unintended consequences. Eliminate the filibuster and the Senate loses its very reason for being. Gone is any functional difference between the two chambers of Congress as the Senate becomes the House 2.0. Gone is a powerful check against polarization and party-line votes. Gone is the last safeguard protecting the minority from the tyranny of the majority.
That’s why renowned Senate scholar Marty Gold has mounted a powerful defense of the legislative filibuster in our 2022 Hatch Center Policy Review. In this report, Marty provides:
- A detailed account of the legislative filibuster’s evolution over time, from the early days of the Senate to the modern era;
- A comprehensive case for preserving the filibuster as a check against polarization and increased partisanship; and
- A blueprint lawmakers can follow to improve protection of the filibuster and other Senate norms.
The filibuster is key to maintaining bipartisanship, compromise, and meaningful deliberation—in other words, the very things that make the Senate the Senate. This is the case we must make before Congress and the country. We hope you enjoy reading it.
Sincerely,
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