For other uses see Filibuster (disambiguation).

A filibuster, or "talking out a bill", is a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation An attempt is made to infinitely extend debate upon a proposal in order to delay the progress or completely prevent a vote on the proposal taking place.

The term 'filibuster' was first used in 1851. It was derived from the Spanish filibustero meaning 'pirate' or 'freebooter'. This term had in turn evolved from the French word flibustier, which itself evolved from the Dutch vrijbuiter (freebooter). French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname This term was applied at the time to American adventurers, mostly from Southern states, who sought to overthrow the governments of Central American states, and was transferred to the users of the filibuster, seen as a tactic for pirating or hijacking debate. ^[1]

Contents 1 Canada 1.1 Bill 103 2 France 3 United Kingdom 3.1 Filibusters in other legislatures on the British model 4 United States 4.1 Procedural filibuster 4.2 Preparations 4.3 History 4.3.1 Early use 4.3.2 20th century and the emergence of cloture 4.3.3 Current practice 4.3.4 Recent Senate history 5 Usage in popular culture 6 See also 7 References 7.1 Notes 7.2 Media 8 External links

Canada

Main article: Common Sense Revolution

Filibustering has a long history in Canadian politics and can be found at all levels of government. The phrase Common Sense Revolution (CSR has been used as a political slogan to describe Common sense conservative platforms in Australia and the U Most attempts at stalling legislation are usually just for show and last a relatively short period of time. But in 1997 the opposition party in Ontario tried to prevent Bill 103 from taking effect, setting in motion one of the longest filibustering sessions Canada had seen.

Bill 103

A unique form of filibuster was pioneered by the Ontario New Democratic Party in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in April 1997. The Ontario New Democratic Party, formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a Social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada See also Politics of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (also known as Ontario Legislative Assembly or OntLA) is the Legislature To protest Progressive Conservative government legislation that would amalgamate the city of Toronto, Ontario, the small New Democratic caucus introduced 11,500 amendments to the megacity bill, created on computers with mail merge functionality. The Ontario PC Party, formally known as the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (in french Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario) is a Right-of-centre Joining two or more political units such as municipalities, counties, or cities into one entity is referred to as amalgamation when the process occurs Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario For other uses see Bill. A bill is a proposed new law introduced within a Legislature that has not been ratified, adopted Mail merge is a Software function describing the production of multiple (and potentially large numbers of Documents from a single template Each amendment would name a street in the proposed city, and provide that public hearings be held into the megacity with residents of the street invited to participate. The Ontario Liberal Party also joined the filibuster with a smaller series of amendments; a typical Liberal amendment would give a historical designation to a named street. The Ontario Liberal Party is a Centrist provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The NDP then added another series of over 700 amendments, each proposing a different date for the bill to come into force.

The filibuster began on April 2 with the Abbeywood Trail amendment and occupied the legislature day and night, the members alternating in shifts. Events 68 - Galba, Governor of Hispania, names himself legatus senatus populique Romani, breaking the line of On April 4, exhausted and often sleepy government members inadvertently let one of the NDP amendments pass, and the handful of residents of Cafon Court in Etobicoke were granted the right to a public consultation on the bill (the government subsequently nullified this with an amendment of their own). Events 1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I. On April 6, with the alphabetical list of streets barely into the Es, Speaker Chris Stockwell ruled that there was no need for the 230 words identical in each amendment to be read aloud each time, only the street name. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato in the Battle of Thapsus The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a legislative body Chris Stockwell (born March 9, 1957 in London, Ontario) was a Politician in Ontario Canada. With a vote still needed on each amendment, Zorra Street was not reached until April 8. Events 217 - Roman Emperor Caracalla is Assassinated (and succeeded by his Praetorian The NDP amendments were then voted down one by one, eventually using a similar abbreviated process, and the filibuster finally ended on April 11. Events 491 - Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine Emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.

France

In France, in August 2006, the left-wing opposition submitted 137,449 amendments to the proposed law bringing the share in Gaz de France owned by the French state from 80% to 34%, to allow for the merger between Gaz de France and Suez. Gaz de France (GDF was a French company which produced transported and sold Natural gas around the world especially in France its main market Normal parliamentary procedure would require 10 years to vote on all the amendments.

The French constitution gives the government two options to defeat such a filibuster. The first one is through the use of the article 49 paragraph 3 procedure, according to which the law is adopted except if a majority is reached on a non-confidence motion. The second one is the article 44 paragraph 3 through which the government can force a global vote on all amendments it did not approve or submit itself.

In the end, the government did not have to use either of those procedures. As the parliamentary debate started, the left-wing opposition chose to withdraw all the amendments to allow for the vote to proceed. The "filibuster" was aborted because the opposition to the privatisation of Gaz de France appeared to lack support amongst the general population. It also appeared that this privatisation law could be used by the left-wing in the upcoming presidential election of 2007 as a political argument. Indeed, Nicolas Sarkozy, president of the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP - the right wing ruling party), Interior Minister, former Finance Minister and President, had previously promised that the share owned by the French government in Gaz de France would never go below 70%. Nicolas Sarkozy (pronounced, The President of the French Republic (Président de la République française colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France 's elected

United Kingdom

In the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a bill defeated by a filibustering maneuver may be said to have been "talked out". The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories Procedural rules in the British House of Commons do not allow Members to speak on just any subject; they must stick to the topic of the debate. The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords

In 1874, Joseph Gillis Biggar started making long speeches in the House of Commons, lower house of the Parliament of the then United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to delay the passage of Irish coercion acts. Joseph Gillis Biggar (1828– February 19 1890) commonly known as Joe Biggar or J Charles Stewart Parnell, a young Irish nationalist MP, who in 1880 became leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party, joined him in this tactic to obstruct the business of the House and force the Liberals and Conservatives to negotiate with him and his party. Charles Stewart Parnell ( 27 June 1846 &ndash 6 October 1891) was an Irish Protestant landowner nationalist The tactic was enormously successful, and Parnell and his MPs succeeded in, for a time, forcing Parliament to take the "Irish question" of return to self-government seriously.

In 1983, Member of Parliament (MP) John Golding talked for over 11 hours during an all-night sitting at the committee stage of the British Telecommunications Bill. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. John Golding ( 9 March 1931 &ndash 20 January 1999) was a Labour Party politician and Trade Union leader in the United BT Group plc (formerly British Telecommunications plc) which trades as BT (ˌbiːˈtiː bee tee) (previously known as British Telecom and still However, as this was at a standing committee and not in the Commons chamber, he was also able to take breaks to eat. The all-time Commons record for non-stop speaking, six hours, was set by Henry Brougham in 1828, though this was not a filibuster. Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778 - 1868 was a British Statesman who became Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom

The 20th-Century record for the longest non-stop Commons speech is held by Conservative barrister Sir Ivan Lawrence. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Sir Ivan John Lawrence, QC, (born 24 December 1936) is a distinguished criminal barrister and was a British Conservative Politician The then MP for Burton spoke for four hours 23 minutes during the Fluoridation Bill's committee stage on March 6, 1985. Burton is a Constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Events 1079 - Omar Khayyám completes the Iranian calendar. 1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar)

The 21st-Century record was set on December 2, 2005 by Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon. Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Andrew Hartley Dismore (born 2 September 1954 is a British politician and lawyer. The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Hendon is a parliament constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Dismore spoke for three hours 17 minutes to block a Conservative Private Member's Bill, the Criminal Law (Amendment) (Protection of Property) Bill, which he claimed amounted to "vigilante law". ^[2] Although Dismore is credited with speaking for 197 minutes, he regularly accepted interventions from other MPs who wished to comment on points made in his speech. Taking multiple interventions artificially inflates the duration of a speech, and is seen by many as a tactic to prolong a speech.

Filibustering can have consequences that were not expected or intended. In January 2000, filibustering orchestrated by Conservative Members of Parliament to oppose the Disqualifications Bill led to cancellation of the day's parliamentary business on Prime Minister Tony Blair's 1000th day in office. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. This article is about the government position For other uses see Prime Minister (disambiguation. Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953 is a British Politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to However, since this business included Prime Minister's Question Time, Conservative Leader William Hague was deprived of the opportunity of a high-profile confrontation with the Prime Minister. Prime Minister's Questions ( PMQs) (officially Questions to the Prime Minister) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, where every William Jefferson Hague (born 26 March 1961 is a British Politician.

On Friday, 20 April 2007, a Private Member's Bill aimed at exempting Members of Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act was 'talked out' by a collection of MPs, led by Liberal Democrats Simon Hughes and Norman Baker who debated for 5 hours, therefore running out of time for the parliamentary day and 'sending the bill to the bottom of the stack'. A Private Member's Bill is a proposed Law introduced by a backbench member of Parliament, whether from the government or the opposition side to that Simon Henry Ward Hughes (born 17 May 1951) is a British politician and Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for North Southwark However, since there were no other Private Member's Bills to debate, it was resurrected the following Monday. ^[3]

Filibusters in other legislatures on the British model

The Northern Ireland House of Commons saw a notable filibuster in 1936 when Tommy Henderson (Independent Unionist MP for Shankill) spoke for nine and a half hours (ending just before 4 AM) on the Appropriation Bill. The House of Commons of Northern Ireland was the lower house of the Parliament of Northern Ireland created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. Thomas Gibson Henderson (1877 &ndash August 14, 1970) usually known as Tommy Henderson, was an Ulster independent Unionist As this Bill applied government spending to all departments, almost any topic was relevant to the debate, and Henderson used the opportunity to list all his many criticisms of the Unionist government.

In the Southern Rhodesia House of Assembly, the Independent member Dr Ahrn Palley staged a similar all-night filibuster against the Law and Order Maintenance Bill in 1960. Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British Colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa, and known today as Zimbabwe Dr Ahrn Palley ( February 13, 1914 &ndash May 6, 1993) was an independent politician in Rhodesia who criticized the

United States

The term first came into use in the United States Senate, where Senate rules permit a senator, or a series of senators, to speak for as long as they wish and on any topic they choose, unless a supermajority of three-fifths of the Senate (60 Senators, if all 100 seats are filled) brings debate to a close by invoking cloture. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple Majority in order to have In Parliamentary procedure, cloture (ˈkloʊtʃɝ KLO-cher (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at ^[4]

Procedural filibuster

In current practice, Senate Rule 22 permits filibusters, in which actual continuous floor speeches are not required, although the Senate Majority Leader may require an actual traditional filibuster if he or she so chooses. The Standing Rules of the Senate are the Rules of order adopted by the United States Senate that govern its procedure The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders (also called Senate Floor Leaders) are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences This threat of a filibuster can therefore be as powerful as an actual filibuster. Previously, the filibustering senator(s) could delay voting only by making an endless speech. Currently, they need only indicate that they are filibustering, thereby preventing the senate from moving on to other business until the motion is withdrawn or enough votes are gathered for cloture. In Parliamentary procedure, cloture (ˈkloʊtʃɝ KLO-cher (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at

Preparations

Preparations for a filibuster can be very elaborate. Sometimes cots are brought into the hallways or cloakrooms for senators to sleep on. According to Newsweek, "They used to call it 'taking to the diaper,' a phrase that referred to the preparation undertaken by a prudent senator before an extended filibuster. Strom Thurmond visited a steam room before his filibuster in order to dehydrate himself so he could drink without urinating. James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and An aide stood by in the cloakroom with a pail in case of emergency. "^[5]

Filibusters have become much more common in recent decades. Twice as many filibusters took place in the 1991-1992 legislative session as took place in the entire nineteenth century. ^[6]

History

Early use

In 1789, the first U. S. Senate adopted rules allowing the Senate "to move the previous question," ending debate and proceeding to a vote. In 1806, Aaron Burr argued that the motion regarding the previous question was redundant, had only been exercised once in the preceding four years,^[7] and should be eliminated. This article discusses Aaron Burr (1756-1836 the US politician The Senate agreed, and thus the potentiality for a filibuster sprang into being. Because the Senate created no alternative mechanism for terminating debate, the filibuster became an option for delay and blocking of floor votes.

The filibuster remained a solely theoretical option until 1841, when the Democratic minority tried to block a bank bill favored by the Whig majority by using this political tactic. Senator Henry Clay, a promoter of the bill, threatened to change Senate rules to allow the majority to close debate. Henry Clay Sr ( April 12, 1777 &ndash June 29, 1852) was a nineteenth-century American statesman and Orator who Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton rebuked Clay for trying to stifle the Senate's right to unlimited debate and he was unsuccessful in eliminating the filibuster with a simple majority vote. Thomas Hart Benton nicknamed "Old Bullion" ( March 14, 1782 &ndash April 10, 1858) was a U

20th century and the emergence of cloture

In 1917 a rule allowing for the cloture of debate (ending a filibuster) was adopted by the Democratic Senate^[8] at the urging of President Woodrow Wilson. In Parliamentary procedure, cloture (ˈkloʊtʃɝ KLO-cher (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28 1856—February 3 1924 was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. ^[9] From 1917 to 1949, the requirement for cloture was two-thirds of those voting.

In 1946 Southern Senators blocked a vote on a bill proposed by Democrat Dennis Chavez of New Mexico (S. Dionisio "Dennis" Chavez ( April 8, 1888 - November 18, 1962) was a Democratic politician from the U 101) that would have created a permanent Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to prevent discrimination in the work place. The filibuster lasted weeks, and Senator Chavez was forced to remove the bill from consideration after a failed cloture vote even though he had enough votes to pass the bill. In Parliamentary procedure, cloture (ˈkloʊtʃɝ KLO-cher (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at As civil rights loomed on the Senate agenda, this rule was revised in 1949 to allow cloture on any measure or motion by two-thirds of the entire Senate membership; in 1959 the threshold was restored to two-thirds of those voting. After a series of filibusters led by Southern Democrats in the 1960s over civil rights legislation, the Democrat-controlled Senate^[8] in 1975 revised its cloture rule so that three-fifths of the Senators sworn (usually 60 senators) could limit debate. Changes to Senate rules still require two-thirds of Senators voting. Despite this rule, the filibuster or the threat of a filibuster remains an important tactic that allows a minority to affect legislation. Strom Thurmond (D/R-SC) set a record in 1957 by filibustering the Civil Rights Act of 1957 for 24 hours and 18 minutes, although the bill ultimately passed. James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and The Civil Rights Act of 1957, primarily a voting rights bill was the first Civil rights legislation enacted by Congress in the United States since Thurmond broke the previous record of 22 hours and 26 minutes set by Wayne Morse (I-OR) in 1953 protesting the Tidelands Oil legislation. Wayne Lyman Morse ( October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was a United States Senator from Oregon from 1945 until

The filibuster has tremendously increased in frequency of use since the 1960s. In the 1960s, no Senate term had more than seven filibusters. One of the filibusters of the 1960s, was when southern Democratic Senators attempted to block the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by making a filibuster that lasted for 75 hours. Origins The bill was introduced by President John F Kennedy in his civil rights speech of June 11 1963, in which he asked for legislation "giving In the first decade of the 21st century, no Senate term had fewer than 49 filibusters. The 1999-2002 Senate terms both had 58 filibusters. ^[10] In the fall of 2007, the 110th Congress' 1st session broke the record, for filibuster cloture votes, topping 70 as of Nov 15, 2007. It is on track to triple the number of such votes in 2008's 2nd session. ^[11]

Current practice

Filibusters do not occur in legislative bodies in which time for debate is strictly limited by procedural rules. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation The House did not adopt rules restricting debate until 1842, and the filibuster was used in that body before that time.

Budget bills are governed under special rules called "reconciliation" which do not allow filibusters. Reconciliation once only applied to bills that would reduce the budget deficit, but since 1996 it has been used for all matters related to budget issues.

A filibuster can be defeated by the governing party if they leave the debated issue on the agenda indefinitely, without adding anything else. Strom Thurmond's attempt to filibuster the Civil Rights Act was defeated when Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield refused to refer any further business to the Senate, which required the filibuster to be kept up indefinitely. James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and Michael Joseph Mansfield (March 16 1903 – October 5 2001 was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Instead, the opponents were all given a chance to speak and the matter eventually was forced to a vote.

Recent Senate history

In 2005, a group of Republican senators led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), responding to the Democrats' threat to filibuster some judicial nominees of President George W. Bush to prevent a vote on the nominations, floated the idea of making a rules change to eliminate filibusters on judicial nominees with the justification that the current Senate rules allowing such filibusters are unconstitutional. The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders (also called Senate Floor Leaders) are two United States Senators who are elected by the party conferences William Harrison "Bill" Frist Tennessee ( is a state located in the Southern United States. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The President of the United States is the Head of state and Head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in United States by George Walker Bush ( born July 6 1946 is the forty-third and current President of the United States. Senator Trent Lott, the junior Republican senator from Mississippi, named the plan the "nuclear option. Chester Trent Lott Sr (born October 9, 1941) is a former United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party Mississippi ( is a state located in the Deep South of the United States The nuclear option, also called the constitutional option, is an attempt by the presiding officer of the United States Senate to end a filibuster by majority " Republican leaders later referred to the plan as the "constitutional option," though opponents and some supporters of the plan continue to use "nuclear option. "

On May 23, a group of 14 senators dubbed the Gang of 14 — seven Democrats and seven Republicans — led by John McCain (R-AZ) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) brokered a deal to allow three of Bush's nominees a vote on the Senate floor while leaving two others subject to a filibuster. Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne The Gang of 14 was a term coined to describe the Bipartisan group of Senators in the 109th United States Congress who successfully negotiated a compromise The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. Earl Benjamin "Ben" Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is the junior U Nebraska ( is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States and The seven Democrats promised not to filibuster Bush's nominees except under "extraordinary circumstances," while the seven Republicans promised to oppose the nuclear option unless they thought a nominee was being filibustered that wasn't under "extraordinary circumstances. " Specifically, the Democrats promised to stop the filibuster on Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William H. Pryor, Jr., who had all been filibustered in the Senate before. Priscilla Richman Owen (born October 4, 1954) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Janice Rogers Brown (born May 11, 1949 in Greenville Alabama) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District William Holcombe "Bill" Pryor Jr (born April 26 1962, Mobile Alabama, USA) is a federal judge on the United States In return, the Republicans would stop the effort to ban the filibuster for judicial nominees. "Extraordinary circumstances" was not defined in advance. The term was open for interpretation by each Senator, but the Republicans and Democrats would have had to agree on what it meant if any nominee were to be blocked. Senator John Kerry led a failed filibuster against Judge (now Justice) Alito in January 2006, calling Alito's nomination an "extraordinary circumstance. } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator Samuel Anthony Alito Jr (born April 1, 1950) is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. "

This agreement expired at the end of the second session of the 109th United States Congress (ended January 3, 2007). Events 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Senate Democratic leadership allowed a filibuster on July 17, 2007, on debate about a variety of amendments to the 2008 defense authorization bill H.R. 1585, the Defense Authorization bill, specifically the Levin-Reed amendment S.AMDT.2087 to H.R.1585. The filibuster had been threatened by Republican leadership to prompt a cloture vote. In Parliamentary procedure, cloture (ˈkloʊtʃɝ KLO-cher (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at

Usually proposals for constitutional amendments are not filibustered. Article Five of the United States Constitution describes the process whereby the Constitution may be altered This is because a two-thirds majority is needed to pass such a proposal, which is much more than the three-fifths majority needed to invoke cloture. So usually a filibuster cannot change the outcome, because if a filibuster succeeds, the amendment proposal would not have passed anyway. However, in some cases, such as for the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006, the Senate did vote on cloture for the proposal; and when the vote on cloture failed, the proposal was dropped. The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA (also referred to by proponents as the Marriage Protection Amendment) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution Some cite the rationale being that the opponents of the amendment did not want to face political consequences in a midterm-election year for directly voting against the amendment, so they defeated it in a procedural vote instead.

Usage in popular culture

• The 1939 film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington climaxes with a young Junior Senator Jefferson Smith (played by Jimmy Stewart), astonished to discover the corruption of his mentor, staging a filibuster to prevent his expulsion from the chamber long enough to expose the corruption. Mr Smith Goes to Washington is a Drama film directed by Frank Capra about one man's effect on American politics. James Maitland Stewart (20 May 1908 – 2 July 1997 popularly known as Jimmy Stewart, was an American Film and stage Actor
• In the King of the Hill episode Flush with Power, a drought brings forth ordinance 631-A, a law which makes "lo-flo" toilets mandatory (which in reality waste more water than high-capacity toilets). King of the Hill is an American animated series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company "Flush With Power" is the 82nd episode in the FOX animated Situation comedy series King of the Hill and Hank joins the Heimlich County Board of Zoning and Resources in an attempt to repeal the ordinance, but his actions earn the chagrin of Nate Hashaway, fellow board member and owner of Hashaway Fixtures (the manufacturer of the toilets). Hank Rutherford Hill is a Fictional character in the animated series King of the Hill. At the time of the vote on his repeal of the ordinance, everyone but Hank votes nay. About to give up, Hank takes the advice of Peggy. Margaret "Peggy" Hill ( née Platter) is the wife of Hank Hill and the mother of Bobby Hill in the Animated series He begins reciting musings written by Peggy, which is immediately apparent to Nate Hashaway as a filibuster, forcing other board members to use the lo-flo toilets and see first-hand how useless they are.
• In the 39th episode of The West Wing, The Stackhouse Filibuster, Senator Howard Stackhouse is rebuffed when he tries to have funding for autism prevention added to a health funding bill. " The Stackhouse Filibuster " is the 39th episode of The West Wing. Language development. The terminology Just hours before a planned recess, he uses a long filibuster to keep the Senate from voting on the bill while reading from books such as a cookbook and David Copperfield, until a White House staffer deduces that he has an autistic grandchild and a plan is hatched to pull the bill from consideration in order to add his proposal. A cookbook is a Book that contains information on Cooking, and/or a list of Recipes It may also contain information on ingredient origin freshness David Copperfield or The Personal History Adventures Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (which he never meant to publish See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence
• In Season 2, episode 8 of Due South, "One Good Man", Constable Benton Fraser filibusters a city council meeting in order to force them to listen to the woes of low income apartment tenants being evicted by a profit-driven landlord. This article concerns the television program For the television listings magazine see Due South Magazine Due South is an award-winning A constable is a person holding a particular office most commonly in law enforcement. Constable Benton Fraser (born 1962) is a Fictional character in the television series Due South.
• In season 1, episode 9 of Mister Sterling, "Final Passage", Senator Sterling leads a filibuster in the Senate, hoping to gain support for his prison education bill. Mister Sterling is an American television serial Drama created by Lawrence O'Donnell that ran from January to March in 2003

See also

• Constitution of the Roman Republic
• Obstructionism
• Nuclear option

References

Notes

Media

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic