Steven Duffield: "...the effective end to minority rights in the Senate"

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/alumni/accoladesandachievements/steven-duffield-99-op-ed-reids-filibuster-plan

Steven Duffield '99 Op-Ed on Reid's Filibuster Plan

Posted: January 4, 2013 - 10:32am

Many Senate liberals want to gut this long-standing protection for minorities. Buried in the Reid Plan is a new rule, the "standing filibuster requirement," that will allow a partisan majority to shut off deliberation and pass legislation by a bare majority. Disguised as a debate-promoting measure, this new plan is actually just a mechanism to eliminate the higher vote threshold that has long been required to proceed to final passage of bills and nominations.

This spells the effective end to minority rights in the Senate. Today's 60-vote bar to end debate will be gone, and the Senate will be transformed into President Obama's rubber stamp.