Reference no: EM131629297

When the Democrats were in the majority in the U.S. Senate several years ago, they voted to place limits on the use of filibusters for presidential appointments, except for appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court.

At the time, Democrats were frustrated that Republican senators were filibustering President Obama's executive branch appointments.

Though they prohibited the use of filibusters for most presidential appointments, the Democrats allowed them to be used on legislation.

Now the Republicans are in charge of the Senate and there is a Republican president. Democrats can filibuster Republican legislation, and for the moment, they can still filibuster President Trump's Supreme Court nomination.

They cannot filibuster President Trump's executive branch appointments, under the existing rules.

The minority party typically supports the filibuster rule, but is less supportive of it when they find themselves in the majority.

Based on ONLY THE INFORMATION IN THE TEXTBOOK (pp. 204-205) and your own understanding of the topic, do you think senators should be able to filibuster bills, or do you think limits should be placed on the use of the filibuster? Why or why not?