The history and constitutionality of the filibuster

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2017

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Richard Arenberg of Brown University and Josh Chafetzof Cornell University discuss the history of the Senate filibuster and whether or not it should be eliminated. Continue today’s conversation on Facebook and Twitterusing @ConstitutionCtr. Sign up to receive Constitution Weekly, our email roundup of constitutional news and debate, at bit.ly/constitutionweekly. Please subscribe to We the People and our companion podcast, Live at America’s Town Hall, on iTunes, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. We the People is a member of Slate’s Panoply network. Check out the full roster of podcasts at Panoply.fm. Despite our congressional charter, the National Constitution Center is a private nonprofit; we receive little government support, and we rely on the generosity of people around the country who are inspired by our nonpartisan mission of constitutional debate and education. Please consider becoming a member to support our work, including this podcast. Visit constitutioncenter.org to learn more. This show was engineered by David Stotz and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich and Tom Donnelly. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to
0:09.9	We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:13.6	The National Constitution Center is the only institution in America chartered by Congress
0:18.9	to disseminate information about the U.S. Constitution on a nonpartisan basis.
0:24.6	And before we get started, a quick plug for Constitution Weekly, our thrilling new weekly round
0:30.6	up of constitutional news and debate.
0:33.0	Please sign up if you haven't already go to bit.ly
0:36.0	forward slash constitution weekly.
0:39.0	That's bit dot y, constitution weekly. Now on today's show we explore the most important constitutional question of the moment
0:48.8	and that involves the history and constitutionality of the filibuster. the week that we're recording Senate Democrats
0:58.0	announced that they have enough votes to sustain a
1:00.6	filibuster of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch.
1:05.2	We're recording this episode before the vote, but it is widely expected that Senate Republicans
1:10.9	may amend Senate rules to allow a simple majority to end the filibuster and by the time
1:16.3	you hear this podcast the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations may be a
1:21.3	matter of history. Is the filibuster an integral part of the Senate's role and
1:27.0	character or is it an impediment to a functional legislature? Does it violate the Constitution?
1:33.0	Joining me to dig into these important historical and constitutional questions are America's two leading experts on the history and constitutionality of the filibuster. Richard Arrenberg teaches international... the
1:43.3	and constitutionality of the filibuster. Richard Arrenberg teaches international and public affairs at Brown University and is
1:47.5	co-author of defending the filibuster, the soul of the Senate.
1:52.1	And Josh Chaffetz is professor of law at Cornell Law School
1:55.1	and author of the unconstitutionality of the filibuster.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from National Constitution Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of National Constitution Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.