ONE-STATE/TWO-VOTES: DO SUPERMAJORITY SENATE VOTING RULES VIOLATE THE ARTICLE V GUARANTY OF EQUAL STATE SUFFRAGE?

The basic components of the zipless filibuster emerged in the 1970s as the result of two well-intentioned efforts at reform. The original senate cloture rule governing the old speaking filibuster, dating from 1917, permitted a Senator to delay a vote on an issue by continuing to debate it unless two-thirds of the Senators present and voting opted for cloture. Pre-1970 senate calendar practice, moreover, forbade consideration of other business until the speaking filibuster was resolved one way or another. In the early 1970s, Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield, seeking to prevent filibustering Senators from holding the Senate hostage, initiated a two-track senate calendar. Under Mansfield's two-track system, filibusters would be carried on during specific parts of the day, with the remainder reserved for regular senate business, carried out on a separate calendar. Moreover, under a two-track calendar, launching a filibuster no longer had institutional consequences. As far as other senate business is concerned, filibusters became costless.