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The first Senator against the filibuster

By Jack M. Balkin

Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the fact that many of our writers, myself included, think that the Senate filibuster is deeply dysfunctional and should be abolished. Readers of this blog should also know that our writers are all law professors who have no power whatsoever over anything. (Whenever any of us, such as Marty Lederman - now Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel - do ascend to positions of authority, you can tell this by the fact that we disappear from the blog.)

So it?s worth noting that an actual U.S. Senator has come out in favor of changing the Senate Rules.

Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) has now promised that he will push to abolish the filibuster. You can read his statement here. That?s one vote. 49 to go.

We spend so much time on this blog complaining about politicians who are screwing things up that it?s nice to single one out who is doing it right. Bravo, Senator Udall.

Full post as published by Balkinization on January 28, 2010 (boomark / email).