The Filibuster Is Not More Important Than Democracy

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 28, 2021 – Today the Senate failed to advance a commission to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, despite receiving bipartisan support. Senate Republicans relied upon the power of the filibuster to block this vital search for answers about the deadly riot as they continue to promulgate the “Big Lie” that inspired it.

Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement:

“The filibuster is an antidemocratic Jim Crow relic used to prevent the governing majority from enacting legislation. Now, it has been used to cover up an attack on our democracy itself. The irony should be lost on nobody. Our government is being held hostage by a minority intent on overruling the voice of the American people and there is only one clear path around them. The filibuster must go.

“Alliance for Justice has long called for the abolition of the Senate filibuster. It has grown from a simple tool of obstruction to a barrier threatening the very tenets upon which the United States of America was founded. Calling for accountability for the deadly attack on the Capitol is only meaningful if it’s treated as more important than maintaining the filibuster. We’re out of time, and the fate of the democracy is at stake.”