Why Liberals Should Maybe Hope the Republicans Nuke the Filibuster

I hate the SAVE America Act. But in the long run, the demise of the Senate filibuster would be great for liberalism—and it would even help (yes, help) bipartisanship.

Donald Trump—juggling a war that shows more signs every week of dragging on far longer than he imagined, a nation of enraged air travelers, and a day of protests against him that was the largest of its kind in American history—is still making time to attack American democracy. He’s leaning hard on Senate GOP leader John Thune to ditch the filibuster and pass the party’s voter-suppression bill, the SAVE America Act. The president posted late last week: “When is ‘enough, enough’ for our Republican Senators. There comes a time when you must do what should have been done a long time ago, and something which the Lunatic Democrats will do on day one, if they ever get the chance. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and get our airports, and everything else, moving again. Also, add the complete, all five items, SAVE AMERICA ACT items. Go for the Gold!!!”

I have less than no use for the SAVE America Act. Like a lot of liberals I know, I’d be fine with a reasonable law that required voters to present ID. But this bill isn’t that. Under such a reasonable law, for example, a driver’s license should constitute valid ID. Under this bill, however, a regular driver’s license—which is the standard issue of 45 states, with only five states offering the Enhanced Driver’s License that the act deems kosher—would not suffice. That’s absurd. More importantly, the act is—as many have pointed out, including Norman Ornstein on this website—effectively a poll tax, requiring registered voters to reregister with proof of citizenship. (Do you even know where your birth certificate is? Do you still live in the same state where you were born?)

The idea of requiring an ID to vote polls very well, but the act itself, once people are informed of the specifics, does far less well. Besides all that, it’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Even the Heritage Foundation, creator of an “Election Fraud Map” presumably designed with the intent of raising the alarm about this alleged pestilence, could find only 1,620 cases of people being criminally convicted or paying a civil........

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