Court Challenge To U.S. Senate's Filibuster Rule Fails

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule argued by a prominent Atlanta attorney.

In a decision dated Dec. 21, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the government-accountability group Common Cause and seven individual plaintiffs lacked legal standing to bring the case.

The plaintiffs – including U.S. Reps. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, and Hank Johnson, D-Stone Mountain ­– had claimed that the failure of immigration-reform legislation in the Senate because of the filibuster rule’s requirement of a super-majority of 60 votes to end debate on pending bills amounted to an “injury” legally sufficient for them to challenge the filibuster’s constitutionality in court.

The challenge was the subject of a front-page story in Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 14.

Beyond the legal standing issue, Sullivan’s ruling went on to question the right of the courts to interfere with Senate rules.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2012/12/31/challenge-to-us-senates-filibuster.html