AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA
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Education
Issues
Homosexual Agenda
1787
The year the U.S. Constitution was ratified without the
filibuster as part of it
1789
The year the Senate was originally constituted with rules that
permitted a majority vote to end debate
1806
The year that the filibuster became theoretically possible
through an inadvertent rules change
1837
The year that a filibuster was used for the first time to block
legislation
1917
The year that a “cloture” rule was adopted to control
legislative filibusters
1949
The year that the Senate rules were changed to extend cloture to
all debatable matters, including nominations
1968
The first time a bipartisan filibuster was used to deny a
judicial nominee an up-or-down vote. But the nominee, Abe Fortas
to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, did not have majority support,
and was opposed by one-third of his own party. He withdrew his
nomination shortly after the failed cloture vote. In contrast,
every one of the filibustered judicial nominees in 2003 and 2004 had
majority support.
1977,
1979,
The years in which then Senate Majority-Leader Robert Byrd
1980,
1987
employed the constitutional option in order to limit minority and
individual Senators’ rights
2003,
2004
The years in which partisan filibusters were
used for the first time to deny confirmation to a judicial nominee with
majority support. Ten nominees were blocked from getting
up-or-down votes due to the filibuster
Copyright 2002-2008 American Family Association of PA