What does it mean for there to be a filibuster?”
Barack Obama’s senior adviser said on Sunday that if Senate Republicans were to attempt a filibuster on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, it would be a shameful attempt at political retribution. Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, David Axelrod repeatedly downplayed the opposition to Sotomayor as a “side show” and “diversion” that failed to account for the lengthy and accomplished resume of the appellate judge. Showed video of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saying a filibuster may be on the table because Obama supported the parliamentary procedure in votes on Justices Roberts and Alito, the president’s right hand man was even more forceful. “The question is not whether it could be done it is whether it should be done,” said Axelrod. “Based on her record, it plainly should not. She has been confirmed twice by this same United States Senate, once unanimously and another with strong bipartisan support. And what I hear Senator McConnell saying is that for political retribut
A filibuster, or “talking out a bill”, is a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body whereby one attempts to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a proposal by extending a debate on that proposal. The term filibuster was first used in 1851. It was derived from the Spanish filibustero meaning pirate or freebooter. This term had in turn evolved from the French word flibustier, which itself evolved from the Dutch vrijbuiter (freebooter). This term was applied at the time to American adventurers, mostly from Southern states, who sought to overthrow the governments of Central American states, and was transferred to the users of the filibuster, seen as a tactic for pirating or hijacking debate.
