Judge Sullivan Dismisses Filibuster Challenge

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan (D.D.C.) on Friday dismissed Common Cause v. Biden, the legal challenge to the Senate's filibuster rule.  Recall that Judge Sullivan heard oral arguments in the case earlier this month, and that standing was front and center.  it wasn't surprising then that Judge Sullivan's ruling on Friday turned on standing, and on separation of powers.

The ruling ends the case, unless and until the plaintiffs appeal.  It seems unlikely that the D.C. Circuit would rule differently.  In any event, if the Senate Democrats succeed in reforming the filibuster at the beginning of the next Congress, the case may become moot.

Judge Sullivan ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing.  As to the House members: he wrote that he was "not persuaded that their alleged injury--vote nullifcation--falls into a narrow exception enunciated by the Supreme Court in Raines v. Byrd."  Op. at 2.  As to the other plaintiffs: they failed to "demonstrate[] that this Court can do anything to remedy the alleged harm they have suffered: the inability to take advantage of the opportunity to benefit from proposed legislation [the DREAM Act] that was never debated, let alone enacted."  Op. at 2.

On separation of powers, Judge Sullivan said that Article I reserves to each House the power to determine its own rules, and there's nothing in the Constitution constraining the Senate from allowing debate to continue absent a super-majority vote.  "[A]bsent a rule's violation of an express constraint in the Constitution or an individual's fundamental rights, the internal proceedings of the Legislative Branch are beyond the jurisdiction of this Court."  Op. at 3.

SDS