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The bizarre back story of the filibuster Robert E. May, opinion contributor © Getty Images The bizarre back story of the filibuster
As Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) dance around whether or not the Senate should end the filibuster s stranglehold over legislation, it is instructive to recall the term s linguistic roots and original meaning.
Derived from a Dutch word for freebooter (
vrijbuiter), the word first appeared in English before the Civil War. In those days, when Americans spoke of filibusters, they meant private armed groups mounting criminal military expeditions against foreign countries from U.S. territory.
Not only were such invasions of other sovereignties illegal under the U.S. Neutrality Act of 1818; like piracy, they violated international law. Such assaults alarmed governments and legal theorists because they risked triggering unwanted wars. To grasp the danger, one only need ponder what might happen today if groups
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