Senate

• 
• SOURCE: Bill Moyers
  2/16/2021
  

  When a Trial is Not a Trial

  by James D. Zirin

  Attorney James Zirin, author of a book on Trump's history of litigation, critiques the second impeachment trial as a sham. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  2/8/2021
  

  The Filibuster That Saved the Electoral College

  Powerful Southern conservatives Strom Thurmond, Sam Ervin, and James Eastland led the 1970 filibuster that stopped the Senate from approving a constitutional amendment to elect the president by the popular vote. 

• 
• SOURCE: MSNBC
  2/8/2021
  

  Vice President Kamala Harris Could Kill the Filibuster Herself

  Columnist Hayes Brown looks at Kamala Harris's tiebreaking role in the context of the changing prestige and power of vice presidents from John Adams to Mike Pence. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/23/2021
  

  How Alvin the Beagle Helped Usher in a Democratic Senate

  On the surface, Raphael Warnock's campaign ads featured a cute beagle. But they reflected a calculated – and successful – effort to counter racial dynamics in Georgia politics to bring about a historic victory. 

• 
• 1/10/2021
  

  Historical Rhetoric Resurfaced in Georgia's Runoff Election

  by Alicia K. Jackson

  Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock didn't just defeat their Republican opponents on January 5, they defeated a number of racist tropes that have characterized Georgia politics since Reconstruction. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/5/2021
  

  Will the Democrats Win in Georgia?

  by Jason Sokol

  Eugene Talmadge served three terms as Georgia's governor through a combination of racism, attacks on government, and a state electoral system that grossly overrepresented rural whites. The January 5 runoff will test whether at least one of those dynamics has changed in Georgia politics. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  1/5/2020
  

  The Senators Who Were Expelled After Refusing To Accept Lincoln’s Election

  by Gillian Brockell

  Not since the crisis of secession and the Civil War has the U.S. Senate expelled a member. 

• 
• 12/13/2020
  

  A Narrow Definition of "Winner" Shouldn't Hide McGovern's Moral Clarity

  by Mike McQuillan

  A former senate aide and campaign volunteer saw George McGovern's moral clarity and decency up close, and says the nation is worse off for branding him a loser after the 1972 election. 

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  12/8/2020
  

  Even if Georgia Turns Blue, North Carolina may not Follow

  by Michael Bitzer and Virginia Summey

  North Carolina's politics have long been characterized by a competition between fairly evenly balanced forces of conservatism and moderation. Democrats who hope to permanently tip the state in their favor are likely to be disappointed. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/9/2020
  

  How Atlanta’s Politics Overtook the Suburbs, Too

  Kevin Kruse is among the scholars of Atlanta who offer insight on how the growth of the metro area has overcome the division between the city and its suburbs and turned Georgia purple.

• 
• 11/22/2020
  

  Biden will Confront Systemic Conservatism Despite a Mandate for Change

  by Steven F. Lawson

  If Joe Biden wants to implement progressive change, he'll be stopped not by a lack of popular support, but by the conservatism built into American institutions. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/14/2020
  

  Democrats Work to Defy History in Georgia Runoffs That Have Favored G.O.P.

  Georgia's runoff election laws were instituted in response to a 1960s Supreme Court decision to eliminate the "county unit" system that had overrepresented white rural voters at the expense of urban and Black Georgians. 

• 
• SOURCE: WKRG
  11/4/2020
  

  New Senator Tuberville Seems to Lack Basic Knowledge of World War II

  Newly elected Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville claimed contrary to fact that his father helped liberate Paris from communism in World War II. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/12/2020
  

  Sen. Sasse Gives an "Eighth-Grade Civics Lesson" at Supreme Court Hearing. It Got Panned

  by Valerie Strauss

  The Nebraska Senator, who holds a PhD in US history, spoke of governing norms above politics and got harsh criticism online. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/29/2020
  

  Harry Reid on the Senate, the Supreme Court, and a Time for Major Change

  Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin interviewed former Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid, who suggests the time has come to remove the filibuster from the Senate rules in response to the undemocratic nature of the chamber. 

• 
• SOURCE: TPM
  9/28/2020
  

  The Democrats Now Face A Historic Opportunity For Structural Change

  by Gregory P. Downs

  Democrats have seen the consequences of their caution in 2009. In 2021, they may have the opportunity to learn from the boldness of the 1880s.

• 
• 9/10/2020
  

  Senator Ben Sasse Advocates Ending Direct Election of US Senators

  The Nebraska Republican, who has a PhD in US History from Yale, argued in the Wall Street Journal that the Senate would be made more functional by repealing the 17th Amendment and returning the selection of Senators to the state legislatures. 

• 
• SOURCE: Daily Beast
  7/27/2020
  

  The History of America’s Most Racist Frat Was No Secret—Except to Joe Kennedy III

  “The Birth of a Nation” was based on a Kappa Alpha member’s book. The frat—which still hails Robert E. Lee as its “spiritual founder”—praised the film for showing its Klan ties.

• 
• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  8/6/2020
  

  It Really Is Time to Get Rid of the Filibuster

  by Jeffrey Toobin

  The noted legal analyst argues that the Senate filibuster must end. 

• 
• SOURCE: Vox
  7/30/2020
  

  Obama: The Filibuster is a “Jim Crow Relic”

  Speaking in honor of the late John Lewis, the former President said that the activist and Congressman's legacy demanded new legislation to protect voting rights, and that the Senate filibuster should be abolished if needed to pass a law.