- filibuster
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/fil"euh bus'teuhr/, n.1. U.S. Politics.a. the use of irregular or obstructive tactics by a member of a legislative assembly to prevent the adoption of a measure generally favored or to force a decision against the will of the majority.b. an exceptionally long speech, as one lasting for a day or days, or a series of such speeches to accomplish this purpose.c. a member of a legislature who makes such a speech.2. an irregular military adventurer, esp. one who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution.v.i.3. U.S. Politics. to impede legislation by irregular or obstructive tactics, esp. by making long speeches.4. to act as an irregular military adventurer, esp. for revolutionary purposes.v.t.5. U.S. Politics. to impede (legislation) by irregular or obstructive tactics, esp. by making long speeches.[1580-90; < Sp filibustero < MF flibustier, var. of FRIBUSTIER; see FREEBOOTER]
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Tactic of delaying action on a bill by talking long enough to wear down the majority in order to win concessions or force withdrawal of the bill.The tactic is normally employed by a group that cannot muster enough votes to defeat a bill by vote. Filibustering is possible in the U.S. Senate because Senate rules allow unlimited debate on a bill. A filibuster may be carried out by a group or a single member, and the speech need not be related to the bill under discussion. Calling for a vote to limit debate (cloture)which requires 60 votes, the votes of three-fifths of the entire membership, in the U.S. Senateor holding around-the-clock sessions to tire the speakers are measures used to defeat filibusters.* * *
▪ parliamentary tacticin legislative practice, the parliamentary tactic used in the United States Senate by a minority of the senators—sometimes even a single senator—to delay or prevent parliamentary action by talking so long that the majority either grants concessions or withdraws the bill.Unlike the House of Representatives (Representatives, House of), in which rules limit speaking time, the Senate allows unlimited debate on a bill. Speeches can be completely irrelevant to the issue.The word is derived from the Spanish filibustero (“freebooting”) and originally described piratical 16th-century privateers; it came into English usage to designate any irregular military adventurer, such as the Americans who took part in Latin-American insurrections in the 1850s. Filibuster was in use in the political sense by the mid-1800s. In 1957 Senator Strom Thurmond (Thurmond, Strom) of South Carolina talked for more than 24 hours, the longest individual filibuster on record, as part of an unsuccessful attempt by Southern senators to obstruct civil-rights legislation.Invoking cloture on debate (i.e., limiting or ending a debate by calling for a vote) and holding round-the-clock sessions to tire the minority are measures used to defeat a filibuster.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
