> On Thu, 21 Jan 2010, Bill O'Connor wrote:
>
>> No, I'm quite sure the filibuster could be scrapped any time of the
>> day or night by the majority party. It doesn't have to be at the
>> beginning of the session, just like last time:
>>
>> http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912966,00.html
>
> I'm sorry, perhaps I read too fast, but I missed the place in this
> article that supports your point. Could you point it out?
You know, I was only going by the date of the article, published in March, which speaks of Senate action to change the rules "last week".
I'm looking for another source that I read which claims that the presiding officer can just rule the filibuster invalid and call for a simple majority to change the rules on the fly.
> Here's the article that backs up mine, i.e., that it could be
> abolished at the beginning of any session:
>
> http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Gold_Gupta_JLPP_article.pdf
A well made argument, but I just don't see what authority would prevent the majority party from changing the rules.
-- In Solidarity, Billy O'Connor