New: James Wallner, On Parliamentary War: Partisan Conflict and Procedural Change in the U.S. Senate (University of Michigan Press)
The R Street Institute’s James Wallner has a new book out: On Parliamentary War. “Dysfunction in the contemporary Senate is driven by the deteriorating relationship between the majority… Read More
Review: Molly Reynolds’ Exceptions to the Rule: The Politics of Filibuster Reform in the Senate
By James Wallner The Senate has changed considerably in recent years. So too has our understanding of how its members make decisions. Traditionally, the leading scholarship on the Senate… Read More
Video of meeting on appropriations and regular order
At the October 2017 meeting of the Legislative Branch Capacity Working Group, Casey Burgat, Lee Drutman, Peter Hanson, and James Wallner examined and interpreted calls for “regular order” in the appropriations… Read More
Wallner on the Senate: In defense of third degree amendments
By James Wallner Senate majorities routinely restrict the ability of senators to participate in the legislative process. The most common way they do so is when the majority leader… Read More
Wallner on the Senate: How senators can offer amendments without the majority leader’s permission
By James Wallner The demise of regular order in the Senate makes it harder for its members to participate in the legislative process. And the result of their efforts… Read More
Wallner on the Senate: Structural imbalances in the Senate’s amendment process
The Senate is a pale imitation of what it once was. A major reason for its current predicament is that senators are no longer able to freely amend the… Read More
Wallner on the Senate: Blocking amendments is a perversion of Senate rules and practices
The Senate today is an institution in decline. It is paralyzed—unable to legislate, much less deliberate. The Senate’s plight is reflected in the near-total deterioration of its amendment process. Read More
ICYMI: James Wallner and Peter Hanson on the Filibuster
Episode #284 of Banter, an American Enterprise Institute podcast, features R Street Institute’s James Wallner and Grinnell College’s Peter Hanson. You can listen in at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/banter-an-aei-podcast/id427915745?mt=2# or https://ricochet.com/podcast/banter-284-james-wallner-peter-hanson-senate-filibuster/… Read More
ICYMI: The Course of the Confirmation Process Isn’t Supposed to Run Smoothly
James Wallner writes at the Library of Law & Liberty: “To the extent that obstruction and delay make it harder for a majority party to operate in the manner… it… Read More
A Beginner’s Guide to Senate Rules
James Wallner’s first white paper for R Street is available at http://www.rstreet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/107.pdf… Read More