Poor Aaron Burr can’t seem to catch a break. First, he is cast as the villain in Lin Manuel Miranda’s play, “Hamilton.” Then, scholars discover he is responsible for the filibuster. Yes, the very same Aaron Burr.
It seems that the original rules of the Senate provided that senators could close debate by moving the previous question. Under those rules, debate could be closed by a majority vote of the Senate. However, the motion was used only once while Burr presided over the Senate as vice president, so he casually suggested that when the Senate revised its rules, they should omit the motion for previous question, as it had only been used that measly one time.
So, in 1806, the Senate removed the rule regarding previous questions, which opened the floor to unlimited debate—a.k.a. the filibuster.
The filibuster is not in the Constitution. It was not allowed in the British Parliament after 1604 and thus was not part of the laws existing at the time of the American founding. It is a creature born of an accidental omission from the rules.
A Short History of the Filibuster--->Read the rest from John Ryder HERE and follow a link to a related story below:
This is Why the Republicans Must Eradicate the Supreme Court Filibuster
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