Thread by @AFJustice

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https://twitter.com/AFJustice/status/1415367424774479873

"We had no choice then, and we have no choice now," @NanAron says about overcoming the filibuster nearly a decade ago to confirm President Obama's nominees just as we must do now to pass voting rights legislation.

@NanAron "We are at an inflection point," @WhipClyburn says, noting President Biden's remarks that we're facing the greatest threat to American democracy since the Civil War, a point he has also previously made.

"When he calls this more than Jim Crow, he is absolutely correct."

@NanAron @WhipClyburn A 60-vote majority to pass any bill is not what the Founders intended, @AJentleson explains. "The only bills that were stopped by the filibuster were civil rights bills" in the 87 years after Reconstruction.

"If you want to pass anything, including civil rights and voting rights, the Democrats are in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, and the only thing preventing them... is the filibuster, which is not grounded in the Constitution." - @KimberlyEAtkins

@KimberlyEAtkins "Tradition it's just that: It's tradition. It's not law. I think it's high time to reform the filibuster." - @WhipClyburn

Senate Republicans "weren't blocking Obama's judicial nominees due to their qualifications. They were blocking them because they wanted to see Obama fail in every aspect of the presidency," @AJentleson explains about previous use of the filibuster.

All three of our panelists — @WhipClyburn, @AJentleson, and @KimberlyEAtkins — agree that Mitch McConnell will get rid of the filibuster as soon as it's in his way, just as he did with Supreme Court nominations for Gorsuch. It has little to do with what Senate Dems might do.

"Expanding access to the vote helps *everyone* vote," @KimberlyEAtkins explains.

"I think a lot about the fact it took not one, but two constitutional amendments for me to have the ability to vote."

"We need to do preclearance in such a way that applies for all 50 states, and Sen. Manchin has told me he supports that," @WhipClyburn says, noting Pennsylvania is trying to mimic Arizona's voting restriction.

There have been clear efforts to restrict Black and brown people's access to the polls, @KimberlyEAtkins notes.

And it's not restricted to just to the South; we've seen it all over, @AJentleson adds.

Because they don't support S1, it has not yet come to a head on the Senate floor where Sens. Manchin and Sinema's support for the filibuster is the *only* thing blocking the way for voting rights to advance. - @AJentleson

Because the votes aren't present to completely eliminate the filibuster, @WhipClyburn supports filibuster reform so we can make the progress we need to protect our democracy before 2022. "We can do this thing with increments."

"Pressure works and members respond to what they're hearing from their constituents," @AJentleson says.

"Asking them to be an advocate and try to persuade their colleagues... is important."

Voters are concerned that they turned out for Democrats and still aren't seeing change, @KimberlyEAtkins says. When are lawmakers going to hold their end of the bargain? Voters and lawmakers are equally exasperated.

"If getting rid of the filibuster makes the Senate 'just like the House,' then I guess it was 'just like the House' for 200 years, but of course it wasn't." @AJentleson explains, noting how many other checks and balances that would remain without the filibuster

"If we don't do this, we're going to allow several states to violate Article 1, Section 4... No state is to be allowed to set the terms and conditions for federal office holders," @WhipClyburn says of various states' attempts to overturn last year's federal election.