, Columnist
In Defense of the Detested Filibuster
The reigning filibuster champion.
Photographer: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Nobody seems to like the filibuster. They should.
President Donald Trump doesn’t like the filibuster, a procedural rule in the Senate that allows unlimited debate to delay or even prevent legislative votes. It regularly bollixes up key pieces of his agenda. In fact, the Republican chief executive has been begging his party’s 53-seat majority in the chamber to junk the tactic. That way, it can act upon his slate of priorities held up by Democrats, most recently the SAVE America Act, an effort to impose far-reaching federal standards on the states for casting ballots.