Ending the Filibuster Won't Fix the Senate's Dysfunction
By Richard A. Arenberg Washington Post January 4, 2022 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at his end-of-the-year news...
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Visiting Professor of the Practice of Political Science
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs,
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
Director, Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy (2020-2021)
OP-ED
Progressives Would Miss the Filibuster
Richard A. Arenberg and Senator Carl Levin. op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 3/29/21 Abolition would be shortsighted, but...
McConnell and Schumer Need to Make the Most of This Moment
op-ed appeared in The Hill on 12/16/21 Richard A. Arenberg and Senator Carl Levin Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) and Democratic...
What to Expect as Election Day Approaches
Richard A. Arenberg (op-ed appeared in the Brown Daily Herald) This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes. This election...
Don’t fall for filibuster abolition. It’s a trap.
It would exacerbate polarization by embracing one-party rule. It would strip the Congress of the only procedural path to forcing negotiation
Unintended Consequences of Killing the Filibuster
It's a profound mistake to mount a short-term power grab ignoring the unintended consequences. The use of a newly elected narrow majorit
Democrats: A Moment in History, Use It Wisely
Eliminating the filibuster would take us in precisely the wrong direction.
My Turn: Richard A. Arenberg: Moving Toward Politicized Courts?
As the judiciary is called upon to referee the balance of powers, will Americans be able to trust courts that become rigidly polarized and d
Time to End McConnell's Reign
It's impossible to overstate the breadth and depth of the damage that McConnell has done to our country and our democracy.
Where Are the GOP "Profiles in Courage" on Capitol Hill?
Former-U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., spoke to the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on Jan. 24, 1995. (T.J. Sokol/AP) The...
Democrats Wield Filibuster Power in Virus Bill
My dentist frequently reminds me not to grind my teeth. As I watched heroic Wisconsin voters stand in line for hour after hour during a...
The Trumpification of the Federal Courts
Not only has the process been accelerated, but increasingly the minority in the Senate has been cut out of the process. This encourages a pr
Can the United States Senate Rise to the Occasion? Probably Not.
Today the Senate teeters on the edge of that black pit once again.
Can the highly polarized and poisonously political current Senate show s
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