Filibuster

Filibuster (pronounced fil-uh-buhs-ter (U) or fil-e-bust-ah (non-U))

(1) In US politics, the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislature to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to attempt to force a decision against the will of the majority.

(2) An exceptionally long speech, as one lasting for a day or days, or a series of such speeches to accomplish this purpose.

(3) A member of a legislature who makes such a speech.

(4) By extension, delaying tactics generally.

(5) Historically, an irregular military adventurer, especially one who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution.

(6) By extension, to engage in unlawful and private military action; a mercenary soldier (obsolete).

1580–1590: From the Spanish filibustero (pirate), from the Middle French flibustier, a variant of fribustier and probably from the Dutch vrijbuiter (pirate (literally “one plundering freely”).  The construct in Dutch was vrij (free) + buit (booty) + -er (agent), hence the later English noun “freebooter”.  Etymologists note the alteration in the first syllable in French was due to the word being somewhat conflated with vlieboot (light, flat-bottomed cargo vessel with two or three masts) when it was borrowed from the Dutch.  By virtue of the Dutch colonial empire, filibuster was picked up by Indonesian and, as fèilìbǎshìtuō (費力把事拖／费力把事拖), by Chinese.  Filibuster is a noun & verb, filibusterer & filibusterism are nouns, filibusterous is an adjective, filibustering & filibustered are verbs and filibusterist is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is filibusters.

There’s some murkiness about the word’s entry into English, perhaps because the first use was among sailors at sea.  The first recorded instance seems to have been flibutor meaning “pirate” and referring to buccaneers operating in Caribbean waters (almost always French, Dutch, and English “adventurers” (ie pirates)) and that was some sort of variant (possibly an imperfect echoic) of the Dutch vrijbueter (the modern spelling vrijbuiter) (freebooter), the word used of the regions pirates and picked up in Spanish (filibustero) & French (flibustier (earlier fribustier)) forms.  If was this origin which led to the later use in English of “freebooter” to mean “a mercenary; a soldier of fortune” and later still to those irregular combatants, organized into loose (but still structured) formations in the US and travelling during the mid-nineteenth century to Central America or the Spanish West Indies, usually after being hired by a state or insurrectionist force, either to put down or conduct a revolt.

Although now most associated with US politics (notable the Senate), the use of “filibuster” to describe the parliamentary tactic appears not widely to have been used in this context until 1865 although the practice was first this described in 1861, the curious linguistic adoption is explained by the appeal of the notion of obstructionist or recalcitrant legislators acting “like pirates” on the floor of the chamber to “plunder and overthrow” the established order of authority; because of events in Central America and the Caribbean, the word (used in the paramilitary sense since 1853) was in the news  Originally, “filibuster” was used to describe the “ringleader” senator but so institutionalised did it become in Senate procedures that by the early 1890s it was understood as the actual mechanism.  As a delaying tactic, then, as now, it wasn’t exclusive to the Senate bit because of the Senate’s rules, composition and numbers, it was there it could be most effective.  As a tactical mechanism in the US Senate, filibuster continues to enjoy its historic meaning but it’s long been used in many contexts as “verbal shorthand” for “delaying tactic; obstructionism; act of procrastination” and in the US Senate, filibusters can be ended by an act of “cloture” (from the French clôture (closure) and a doublet of closure and clausure (from Late Latin clausūra, from the Classical Latin clauses) (the act of shutting up or confining; confinement).

In its pure form (under rules which permitted “unlimited debate”, subject only to a closing vote by a two-thirds majority among an assembled quorum) the filibuster existed only to 1917 when the first cloture act was passed.  Since then there have been a number of refinements, all designed to limit the extent to which the filibuster can be used to defy the will of a clear majority and in certain situations, most notably votes confirming the appointment of judges to the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) only a bare majority (ie 51 out of 100) is now required, a significant change from what prevailed for most of the republic’s existence when at least 60 votes were needed, something which meant at least some bipartisan support was usually essential.  That applied also to other presidential appointments such as federal judges and cabinet members.

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December 2011.

It was during the administration of George W Bush (George XLIII, b 1946; US president 2001-2009) that the Republican Party began exploring a way to neuter the filibuster which was slowing up (in some cases stopping) their project and what they wanted as a change to the Senate rules which would allow judicial nominees to pass with a simple majority, something obviously topical because the GOP then held 51 Senate seats.  The Republicans plotters first gave their scheme the code-name “The Hulk” but it was them majority leader Trent Lott (b 1941) who gave it the name which stuck: the “Nuclear Option”.  That had some resonance because the point about the use of nuclear weapons is that things can get out of hand and the ensuing conflict can be equally damaging to both sides, something which may explain the long historical reluctance by senators to tinker too much with the filibuster, both sides aware they may need it one day.  In one of those charming coincidences, Senator Lott was compelled to resign the majority leadership because he made a speech praising old Strom Thurmond’s (1902-2003; US senator (Republican- South Carolina) 1954-2003) segregationist policies when running as the Dixiecrat candidate in the 1948 presidential election.  It’s old Senator Thurmond who still holds the record for the Senate’s longest single-person filibuster, his mark of 24 hours: 18 minutes set in August 1957 in an attempt to prevent the passage of the Civil Rights Act (1957).  The act passed into law.  Trent Lott is a confessed Freemason.

Three wise men who, as senate majority leaders, would, from time-to-time, change their views on things: Harry Reid (left), Mitch McConnell (centre) and Trent Lott (right).

As things worked out, the Republicans increased their majority in 2004 and they were never compelled use the nuclear option but by 2013, with the Democrats now enjoying a majority, it was them being filibustered, frustrating their (many) attempts to fill judicial vacancies.  Accordingly, the Democratic majority leader, old Harry Reid (1939–2021; US senator (Democrat, Nevada) 1987-2017), pulled the trigger, changing the Senate’s rules to permit nominees for cabinet posts and federal judgeships to be with a bare majority of 51 votes, the Republican & Democratic positions on the issue now reversed from a decade earlier.  Then Republican minority leader, old Mitch McConnell (b 1942; US senator (Republican- Kentucky) since 1985) warned darkly: “You'll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think.”  It’s believed Harry Reid’s middle name (Mason) was a coincidence and it’s not believed he was ever a Freemason although he did as a young man convert to Mormonism.

Notably, Senator Reid must have understood Senator McConnell’s words because he didn’t aim the nuclear option at Supreme Court nominees, meaning it was still necessary to gather at least 60 votes to confirm an appointment.  However, control of the Senate shifted back to the Republicans in the 2014 mid-term elections and in one of his sneakier moves, Senator McConnell decided the house wouldn’t consider the matter of SCOTUS vacancies and delayed things in the hope it would be a Republican in the White House to make the nomination(s).  That attracted much criticism as both naked cynicism and an “unprecedented breach of political conventions” but Senator McConnell knew the rules and his faith was rewarded when Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) won.  Quickly, Senator McConnell pressed the nuclear button, saying that although he led the opposition to what Senator Reid had done in 2013, that had set a precedent and it was one the Republican majority was going to follow.  That was quite a stretch given the simple majority rule had never been applied to the SCOTUS but again, Senator McConnell knew the rules and he had Mr Trump's nominee confirmed in a 54-45 vote.