Will Democrats Reform the Filibuster?

Jeffrey Toobin: “The most important action the Senate takes in January may not involve any legislation at all. Early next year, when the latest group of senators convene for the first time, the ‘world’s greatest deliberative body’ may finally do something worthy of its nickname: reform the filibuster.”

“The filibuster long ago shed its association with the principled stand of dedicated outsiders; Mr. Smith left Washington decades ago. Rather, the opposition parties of the past couple of decades–and especially the Republicans in the Obama era–have transformed the filibuster from a weapon deployed in extraordinary circumstances into a routine part of Senate business. In recent years, it’s become the rule, rather than the exception, that the majority has to muster sixty votes to get anything done. With fifty-three Democrats in the Senate (fifty-five starting next year), this means that Republicans have been able to slow the upper body to a virtual standstill.”

Wonk Wire: The last filibuster?