In a 47-page ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan acknowledged that the “filibuster rule is an important and controversial issue…as in recent years, even the mere threat of a filibuster is powerful enough to completely forestall legislative action.”
Nonetheless, as could have been predicted, Sullivan added that “this court finds itself powerless to address this issue for two independent reasons.”
This lawsuit would have really only made sense if Republicans had sued to prevent Senate Dems from changing the filibuster rules; the Dems haven’t even tried that yet. What this means is that, for now, filibuster reform lives or dies in the Senate.
Via David Dayen.
Feed the Political AnimalDonate
Washington Monthly depends on donations from readers like you.