The Urgency of a Senate Rule Change
Pundits, public figures and the politically-oriented have awakened to the fact that a Senate procedural rule is undermining democracy in Congress.
Only those who spend too much time with Roberts Rules of Order can follow the tortured route through which a principled respect for free and full debate led to a situation in which it takes agreement from 60% of the Senators to bring a bill to the floor, which in effect means that it takes a supermajority to pass all legislation, originating in the House or Senate.
Because of the compromise which gave states two senators regardless of their population, the notion has arisen that the Founders intended the Senate to be undemocratic. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Alexander Hamilton and James Madison repeatedly reaffirmed the importance of majority vote in the Federalist Papers. The Constitution itself specifies the three instances in which a two-thirds vote is required.
The public weighed in to make the Senate more democratic when it passed the 17th amendment requiring the direct election of senators in 1913. This replaced the earlier provision that the state legislatures would name them.
With great gusto, the Republicans have used the so-called"invisible filibuster" 84 times since Obama was elected president, more than the total of all filibusters in the Congresses of the 1950s and 1960s.
This abuse has aroused those paying attention, but changing Rule 22 which introduced the painless filibuster will be like pulling an elephant out of hat. Too many senators on both sides of the aisle consider Senate traditions as holy writ, even though they've changed this rule three times. Much is made of the bad legislation super majorities have blocked without considering the many good laws that never get passed -- or how the difficulty of law-making in America feeds into voters' frustration and alienation.
Still the opening of the 112th Congress presents an opportunity for course correction, and some Senators are actually talking up reform proposals.
More than 300 historians, political scientists, and law profs from colleges and universities throughout the country have signed a petition calling upon their Senators"to restore majority rule to the United States Senate by revising the rules that now require the concurrence of 60 members before legislation can be brought to the floor."
Stay tuned. We'll know on January 5th whether the reformers can bring enough colleagues along to redeem democratic rule in the United States.
The Petition
Dear colleague,
The sorry spectacle of one bill after another being defeated in the Senate despite having a majority of senators voting for it impels us to circulate this petition. We are asking our senators to change the rules that have empowered a minority of 41 senators and undermined the democratic principle of majority vote. An email message returned to appleby@history.ucla.edu will affirm your support, and your name, with affiliation, will be added to the petition which we intend to present to a group of senators when the new congress convenes in January.
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We, the undersigned, American historians, political scientists, and legal scholars, call upon our senators to restore majority rule to the United States Senate by revising the rules that now require the concurrence of 60 members before legislation can be brought to the floor for debate and restoring majority vote for the passage of bills.
Joyce Appleby, UCLA, retired
Katy Harriger, Wake Forest University
Senator Gary Hart, University of Colorado, Denver
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School
Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School
Peter Onuf, University of Virginia
Jack Rakove, Stanford University
David RePass, University of Connecticut, retired
John K. White, Catholic University
Richard D. Lamm, Gov. of Colorado, 1975-1987
Coit D. Blacker, Stanford University
James Gelvin, UCLA
H. Robert Baker, Georgia State University
Darryl Holter, University of Southern California
Robert Rapetto, Yale University
David Orr, Oberlin College
Manuel J.R. Montoya, University of New Mexico
Kathleen M. Beatty, University of Colorado, Denver
Morton T. Tenzer, University of Connecticut
David S. Tannenhaus, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Robert H.J. Abzug, University of Texas, Austin
David H. Hall, Harvard University
Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Georgetown Law School, University of California, Irvine
Carla Garadina Pestana,. Miami University, Ohio
Michael Zucker, University of Notre Dame
Thomas A. Foster, DePaul University
John Kukla, Richmond, Virginia
Corey Robin, Brooklyn College and City University of New York Graduate Center
David Thelen, University of Indiana
T.H. Breen, Northwestern University
Jonathan D. Varat, UCLA Law School
Michael Koppedge, University of Notre Dame
Michael Johnson, Johns Hopkins University
Toby L. Ditz, Johns Hopkins University
Teofilo Ruiz, UCLA
Laurel Ulrich, Harvard University
Pauline Maier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Anne Lombard, California State University, San Marcos
Gabrielle M. Spiegel, Johns Hopkins University
Robert A. Hill, UCLA
Buie Seawell, University of Denver
Edward Countryman, Southern Methodist University
Sara Berry, Johns Hopkins University
Thomas Bender, New York University
David Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley
Franklin W. Knight, Johns Hopkins University
Lucia Stanton, Monticello
Alan Trachtenberg, Yale University
Warren M. Billings, University of New Orleans
James Drake, Metropolitan State College of Denver
M. Gregory Kendrick, UCLA
Benjamin H. Johnson, Southern Methodist University
Kenneth Karst, UCLA Law School
Robert Johnson, University of Illinois, Chicago
Thomas S. Hines, UCLA
Herbert Sloan, Barnard College, Columbia University
Alexis McCrossen, Southern Methodist University
Ira Berlin, University of Maryland
Fred G. Notehelfer, UCLA, emeritus
Gerald L. Weinberg, University of North Carolina
Richard M. Pious, Barnard College, Columbia University
Thomas J. Knock, Southern Methodist University
Michelle Nickerson, University of Texas, Dallas
John Chavez, Southern Methodist University
Gabriel Piterberg, UCLA
John P. Kaminski, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Graham A. Peck, Saint Xavier University
Jonathan Gross, DePaul University
Jean R. Sunderland, Lehigh University
Dennis D. Cornell, Southern Methodist University
James M. Banner, Washington D.C.
David D. Leon, Howard University
Jeremy Adams, Southern Methodist University
Fred M. Woodward, Lawrence, Kansas
Hal S. Barron, Harvey Mudd College
Glenna Mathews, independent scholar
Carol Karsen, University of Michigan
David DuFault, San Diego State University, retired
Jess Stoddard, San Diego State University, retired
Philip Flemion, San Diego State University, retired
Gregg Herken, University of California, Merced
Karl Inderfurth, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Natalie Zemon Davis, Princeton University, emeritus
Edward A. Alpers, UCLA
John Snetsinger, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University
Margaret Jacob, UCLA
Simone Weil David, University of Toronto
Margaret Hunt, Amherst College
Charles Capper, Boston University
Ellen Carol DuBois, UCLA
Olivier Zunz, University of Virginia
John R. Chavez, Southern Methodist University
Joanne Ferraro, San Diego State University
Mary F. Corey, UCLA
Joseph Kett, University of Virginia
Ralph E. Luker, Morehouse College, retired
Gregory L. Kaster, Gustavus Adolphus College
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Jeremy Young, Indiana University
James Brewer Stewart, Macalestar College
Mary Beth Norton, Cornell University
Steven Conn, Ohio State University
John Carson, University of Michigan
Ruth Perry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Akhil Reed Amar, Yale University
Peter Reill, UCLA
Robert E. Bieder, Indiana University
Robert E. Mutch, Washington, D.C.
Edwin G. Burrows, Brooklyn College
Jeffrey K. Tulis, University of Texas, Austin
Fredriak J. Teute, Omohundre Institutie of Early American History andCulture
Francis H. Stites, San Diego State University
Albert O’Brien, San Diego State University
John H. Coatsworth, Columbia University
Jack M. Balkin, Yale Law School
Christopher Bates, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona
Iryne Black, Newport Beach, California
Timothy Black, Newport Beach, California
Walter LaFeber, Cornell University
Maeva Marcus, George Washington University Law School
Isaac Kramnick, Cornell University
Michael Meranze, UCLA
Ross Frank, University of California, San Diego
Ron Hayduk, Queens College
Lucas A. Powe, Jr., University Texas Law School
Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School
Stanley N. Katz, Princeton University
Susan Strasser, University of Delaware
Claudrena Harold, University of Virginia
Jeremy I. Adelman, Princeton University
Ann Heiney, Newport Beach, California
Anthony Grafton, Princeton University
Charles S. Maier, Harvard University
James Kloppenberg, Harvard University
Trace B. Strong, University of California, San Diego
Jeffrey C. Isaac, Indiana University
Jay Driskell, Hood College
Nancy Fraser, New School for Social Research
Ellen Schrecker, Yeshiva University
Stephen W. Feldman, University of Wyoming
Frances Fox Piven, City University of New York
Alyson M. Cole, Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center
Thomas Dunim, Amherst College
Joshua Freeman, Queens College, CUNY Graduate Center
Hendrik Hartog, Princeton University
Rick Perlstein, Chicago
Thomas Geoghegen, Desprese, Schwartz & Geoghegen
John Majewski, University of California, Santa Barbara
Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania
Eric Alterman, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Maximillian E. Novak, UCLA, emeritus
Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania
Andrew Sabl, UCLA
Carol W. Lewis, University of Connecticut
Kate Wittenstein, Gustavus Adolphus College
Ruth Anne Baumgartner, Fairfield University and Central Connecticut State University
Ronald Walters, Johns Hopkins University
Charles Venator, University of Connecticut
John R. Wallack, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center
Herbert Kaufman, formerly Yale University
Ed Edelman, former Los Angeles County Supervisor
Peter Truowitz, University of Texas, Austin
Ruth Bloch, UCLA
Catherine Allgor, University of California, Riverside
David L. Richards, University of Connecticut
Naomi Merzey, Georgetown University Law Center
Philip Green, New School for Social Research
Robert Westman, University of California, San Diego
Nancy Unger, Santa Clara University
Joseph Lowndes, University of Oregon
Michael Holt, University of Virginia
Neil Sapper, Armarillo College, retired
Alan Lessoff, Illinois State University
Peter Kingstron, University of Connecticut
David Gerber, University of Buffalo, SUNY
Philip Rubio, North Carolina Arts and Technology University
Philip Nord, Indiana University
Aziz Rana, Cornell Law School
John R. Bowman, Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center
Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
Sandra Moats, University of Wisconsin, Parkside
James M. McPherson, Princeton University
Jason Frank, Cornell University
Charles Pastel, San Francisco State University
Jill Lepore, Harvard University
Jane Kamensky, Brandeis University
Alejandro E. Camacho, University of California, Irvine Law School
Donald Kennedy, president emeritus, Stanford University
Paul Seaver, Stanford University
Geoffrey Symcox, UCLA
Leslie E. Gerwin, Princeton University
Richard.H. Kohn, University of North Carolina
Michael D. Wilson, Vanguard University of Southern California
Karl Manheim, Loyola Law School
Berry M. Sax, Department of Defense Administrative Judge, retired
David Montgomery, Yale University
Michael Holt, University of Virginia
Lisa Jacobson, University of California, Santa Barbara
Walter Giger, Jr., University of Hartford
Julie Novkov, University of Albany, SUNY
Denis Z. Davidson, Georgia State University
Adolph Grundman, Metropolitan State College of Denver
Brian Balogh, University of Virginia
John A. Mears, Southern Methodist University
Bennett Ramberg, Los Angeles
Shanti Singham, Williams College
Steve Hochstadt, Illinois College
Charles Tandy, Ria University Institute for Advanced Study
Nancy F. Cotton, Harvard University
Jon Butler, Yale University
Eric Thomas, Jacksonville University
Elaine Tyler May, University of Minnesota
Jonathan McLeod, San Diego Mesa Community College
Thomas Zoumaras, Truman State University
Michelle Mart, Pennsylvania State University, Berks
Mitch Kachun, Western Michigan State University
Bill Chafe, Duke University
Walter Nugent, University of Notre Dame
Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University
Judith Smith, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Gary Gerstle, Vanderbilt University
Elizabethy Cohgen, Syracuse University
Allen W. Trelease, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Tera W. Hunter, Princeton University
James H. Merrell, Vassar College
Peter Novick, University of Chicago
Craig Steven Wilder, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seth L. Schein, University of California, Davis
Jenna Gibbs, Florida International University
Michael Latham, Fordham University
Michael Green, College of Southern Nevada
Martin Kaplan, University of Southern California
Valerie Matsumoto, UCLA
Sanford M. Jacoby, UCLA
Alexander Saxton, UCLA emeritus
Thomas J. Sugrue, University of Pennsylvania
Thomas S. Hines, UCLA
Albion M. Urdank, UCLA
Lynn Hunt, UCLA
Ron Pagnucco, College of St. Benedict, St. John’s University
David Konig, Washington University in St. Louis
Brenda Stevenson, UCLA
Linn Shapiro, Washington, D.C.
Peter Loewenberg, UCLA
Christian McMillen, University of Virginia
Hendrik Hartog, Princeton University
Estelle B. Freedman, Stanford University
Daniel Howe, UCLA
Ann C. McGinley, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Mary La France, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Christopher Blakesley, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Thomas B. McAffee, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Robert Brenner, UCLA
Gail Cline, University of Nevada. :as Vegas
George Rabinowitz, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Norton Wise, UCLA
Patricia Bonomi, New York University
Jon Wiener, University of California, Irvine
Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School
Joseph Miller, University of Virginia
James MacGregor Burns, Williams College
Susan Dunn, Williams College
Lori Anne Ferrell, Claremont Graduate University
David Warren Sabean, UCLA
Isabel V. Hull, Cornell University
Edward Ayers, Richmond University
Tom Donnelly, Harvard Law School
Donald Kersey, San Jose State University
Peter H. Wood, Duke University
Joseph Scott Miller, Lewis and Clark Law School
Jonathan Lurie, Rutgers University
Maxine N. Lurie, Rutgers University
Elizabeth Fenn, Duke University
Richard Worthington, Pomona College
Richard Olsen Harvey, Mudd College
Anne K. Nelson, American University
Peter Kuznick, American University
Howard M. Wasserman, Florida International University
Diane Mazur, University of Florida Levin College of Law
David K. Robinson, Truman State University
John Wintterle, San Jose State University
William Marotti, UCLA
Peter Brandon Bayer, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Stephen Aron, UCLA
Ediberto Roman, Florida International State University
Mellisa Stockdale, University of Oklahoma
David W. Levy, University of Oklahoma
Elyssa Faison, University of Oklahoma
Robert Savage, Florida International University Law School
Ronald Steel, University of Southern California, retired
Robert Dawidoff, Claremont Graduate University
Judith S. Lewis, University of Oklahoma
Steve Raphael, University of California, Berkeley
Robert Garwin, Chula Vista, California
Ann Caylor, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico
Thomas McClendon, Southwestern University
Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton University
Ira Chernus, University of Colorado, Boulder
Mark Cammack, Southwestern Law School
Myra Rich, University of Colorado, Denver