How Congress slowly surrendered its constitutional authority — and how that created the machine we fight today.
Click any era to see the details.
Article I, Section 1: “All legislative Powers… shall be vested in a Congress…”
Senate designed for deliberation, but ordinary laws pass by simple majority.
Supermajority votes are required only for the specific cases explicitly enumerated in the Constitution — ratifying treaties, overriding presidential vetoes, proposing constitutional amendments, convicting in impeachment trials, and expelling members. Ordinary legislation was deliberately designed to pass by simple majority.
. Power deliberately placed closest to the people.Senate drops the “previous question” motion. Unlimited debate is born. This opens the door to what will later become the filibuster.
Direct election of Senators removes state legislatures as a check. Senate becomes more like the House — and more susceptible to national special interests.
New Deal era: Congress passes extremely broad statutes with vague language (“public interest,” “necessary,” etc.). Lawmaking shifts to unelected agencies. Supreme Court initially resists (Schechter), then largely surrenders under “intelligible principle” test.
Result: Birth of the modern administrative state.
1917: First cloture rule requiring a two-thirds vote to end debate.
1975: Cloture threshold lowered to 60 votes.
The Constitution explicitly lists every situation that requires a supermajority. The Senate’s 60-vote rule for almost everything has no constitutional basis and violates the Framers’ clear intent.
House passes voter integrity bill by simple majority (as the Constitution intends). Senate Democrats filibuster — bill dies unless it gets 60 votes. Clear demonstration of how Senate rules override House majorities and constitutional design.
Both parties participate. Congress avoids hard votes by delegating to agencies. Senate gridlock protects the status quo. Power flows to the permanent bureaucracy — the machine that no election seems to touch.
A weak, delegating House + a gridlocked, supermajority Senate = a Congress that no longer functions as designed.
This is the root. Everything else grows from it.