In his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, “America Needs the Filibuster,” former Sen. Ben Sasse argues the filibuster “provides a bulwark against consolidated power.” Later, he states the filibuster rule, “plays a critical role in limiting and dividing power … the filibuster safeguards the spirit of the Constitution’s anticonsolidation objective.” The truth is, if the filibuster rule were included in the Constitution, it would have undermined the republican form of government the Framers created.
The filibuster rule undermines majority rule
In Federalist 22, Alexander Hamilton described “the fundamental maxim of republican form of government … that the sense of the majority should prevail.” The filibuster rule, through its creation of a supermajority 60-vote cloture requirement, blocking a bill’s passage when supported by a majority, frustrates that “fundamental maxim.”
