McConnell Claims Filibuster Has “No Racial History”

The Washington Post reports:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has repeatedly defended the filibuster, said Tuesday that the obstructionist practice has no racial history.

In fact, Sen. Strom Thurmond (S.C.), then a Democrat but a Republican from 1964 onward, spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in his filibuster to stop passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was to protect the right of Black Americans to vote. In the 1920s and 1930s, Southern Democratic senators filibustered anti-lynching bills.

“It has no racial history at all,” McConnell told reporters. “None. There’s no dispute among historians about that.”

Read the full article.

Mitch McConnell defends the Senate filibuster: “It has no racial history at all. None. There’s no dispute among historians about that.” pic.twitter.com/lR0drfNuQi

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 23, 2021

A partial walk-back from McConnell’s office, which says he was referring to the *origins* of the filibuster.

The *use* of the filibuster, of course, has an extensive and well-documented racial history over generations (though it’s now used on everything). https://t.co/1LQZtYPWNe

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) March 23, 2021

Mitch McConnell on the filibuster: “It has no racial history at all. None.”

The racial history of the filibuster: pic.twitter.com/k28LvReySC

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 23, 2021

The fact McConnell is so utterly terrified of Democrats ending the filibuster is a sign that it’s exactly the right thing to do.

— Wajahat “He’s Muslim” Ali (@WajahatAli) March 23, 2021