What’s all this talk about “filibuster”? That’s what Democrat Senator Wendy Davis used to block an anti-abortion bill in Austin. Davis began the filibuster at 11:18 am on Tuesday morning and continued talking till 12 midnight.

That’s around half a day spent talking. How did she manage? No galle mein khichkhich? Yes, she could be the brand ambassador for Vicks. It wasn’t even just talking. It was talking without taking a break. No going off topic. No food or water. No loo breaks. No leaning on the podium. And of course, no sitting. Of course, wearing pink tennis shoes kept her standing comfortably.

So, what exactly is a filibuster? The filibuster is a legislative tool which a legislator can use to block or delay a bill. It’s usually an attempt by a minority political party to stall a bill, and hopefully prevent a vote, by endlessly debating it.Many see it as an important check on power, while others think of it as a criminal waste of time. The word “filibuster” originates from the Spanish filibustero or freebooting. The tradition dates back to Roman times. Cato the Younger was one of the first filibusters, and repeatedly block legislation by objecting until nightfall. Which made a vote impossible, since the Roman senate required all business to be concluded by dusk.

What Rome does yesterday, US does today! What was the law which Wendy Davis was using the filibuster against? The filibuster was aimed at stalling a controversial anti-abortion bill,which if passed would have made abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy illegal.

And she spoke for 10 hours without a break? Oh yes! The 50-year-old Democrat and single mother became an overnight sensation. And thanks to her, everyone’s started speaking of filibusters again. Especially online.There were at least 730,000 total tweets about the filibuster on Tuesday. The excitement peaked at 11:58 pm central time, just two minutes before the midnight deadline, with 5,776 tweets per minute about the story, according to Twitter.  Even Obama couldn’t resist tweeting about what was going on in Texas. He tweeted, “Something special is happening in Austin tonight”, using the hashtag #StandWithWendy.

Was she successful in stalling the bill? Both yes and no. Under filibuster norms,the leader simply needs to hold up the vote until an agreement to proceed is reached. However, if the opposition is able to muster enough numbers,they could end the filibuster – which is known as cloture. Once cloture is reached, the bill can be debated,following which it can be voted on. However, in this case, David Dewhurst, the Texas lieutenant governor who had to sign the bill said a 19-10 vote in favour of the bill came within time, but “with all the ruckus and noise going on, I couldn’t sign the bill”. He blamed the delay on “an unruly mob using Occupy Wall Street tactics”.

What’s the future of the bill now? While the bill’s opponents celebrated their victory, it seems short-lived. Texas Governor Rick Perry has called for a second special session of the Texas Legislature to reconsider the abortion bill. The new special session will start on July 1 at 2 pm and will run for no more than 30 days.

Was Davis’ the longest filibuster in history? It was definitely one of the longest, but the all-time record is held by veteran South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. In August 1957, Thurmond made a speech against extending voting rights to African-Americans. He started speaking at 8.54pm and finished at 9.12pm the following evening – and spoke for precisely 24 hours 18 minutes against the motion.And read out the voting laws of each US state, the Bill of Rights and George Washington’s farewell address.

24 hours? Did nature not call – either to ingest or egest? Thurmond was prepared for all eventualities and had brought in a picnic basket of bread, sirloin steak, fruit juices, toffees and water. He also made sure to speak“in a quiet monotone”, so he didn’t strain his voice. He claimed that he’d been able to avoid the call of nature because he’d visited a sauna before.There’ve always been rumours that he’d been fitted with a catheter for the filibuster.

This sounds like one of the twelve labours of Hercules. There’ve been others who preceded and followed Thurmond. Al D’Amato of New York in 1986 spoke for 23 hours 30 minutes to filibuster a vote on a major military bill. In 1953, Wayne Morse of Oregon spoke for 22 hours 26 minutes to stall a debate on an oil bill. In 1908, Robert La Follette Sr of Wisconsin spoke for 18 hours 23 minutes to stop a bill that would have allowed the US treasury to lend currency to banks during fiscal crises.

The most famous filibuster of all time though, at 15 hours and 30 minutes, was that of Louisiana Democrat Huey Long in June 1935. Long read out his family’s favourite recipes, including a soup made of water left over from boiled greens, called “potlikker”.

Do all the states in the US have uniform filibuster norms? Nope! In fact, Texas has one of the toughest filibuster rules. A filibuster for a Washington senator is a cakewalk in comparison. In Washington, a filibuster is not a means of talking the bill out or presenting a case against the bill with arguments – but merely a delaying tactic. US senators in Washington just have to threaten to talk, they don’t even have to talk in order to delay the bill.

The wonder of living in the free world. So is this an American  specialty? No no. The filibuster isn’t just confined to the US. In February 1983, Labour MP John Golding spoke for 11 hours 15 minutes about a minor amendment to the British Telecom privatisation bill. While this helped delay privatisation until after the 1983 election, it wasn’t given full filibuster status as it was performed in a standing committee, not in the Commons chamber. And, unlike the norm in the filibuster, Golding could take breaks.

In April 1963, Senator Roseller Lim of the Philippines spoke for over 18 hours to prevent Ferdinand Marcos’ election to the senate presidency. Lim had to be carried out on a stretcher at the end of the 18 hours. More recently, in December 2010, Austrian Green MP Werner Kogler spoke for 12 hours 42 minutes. In 2011 the New Democratic Party in Canada engineered a marathon filibustering session which lasted a total of 58 hours.

Why don’t we see such things in India? Well, for that to happen, the Indian Parliament would have to first function without interruption. And then we already have many indigenous tools of delaying and blocking a law. When a government is limping on one leg, “not reaching a consensus” is the first tool. The more innovative and powerful ways of stalling a bill is to literally tear it up. In January 2012, RJD leader Rajniti Prasad tore up the Lokpal bill before the stroke of the midnight because he was miffed with the fact that there was no SC/ST/OBC in the panel that would select the Lokpal. Or so he said.

Source

http://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/the-art-of-the-filibuster-can-one-person-stop-a-government.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/26/wendy-davis-lengthy-history-filibuster

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/06/so-what-exactly-is-an-old-school-fillibuster-and-how-does-it-work/

http://www.npr.org/2013/03/07/173733689/famous-filibusters-throughout-history