Obama Blasts Filibuster as ‘Jim Crow Relic’; Calls on Congress to Kill it, Pass Puerto Rico and Washington DC Statehood

Former President Barack Obama called Thursday for Democrats to end the Senate filibuster in order to pass statehood for Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., in addition to other items high on his party’s agenda.

“I’m so grateful for the legacy and work of all the congressional leaders who are here,” Obama said during a memorial service for the late Rep. John Lewis (D-GA). “But there’s a better way than a statement calling him a hero.”

Obama said legislative priorities, to honor Rep. Lewis, should include allowing former felons to vote and making Election Day a national holiday, in addition to granting statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington. “And if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another Jim Crow relic, in order to secure the God-given rights of every American, then that’s what we should do,” Obama said.

The modern form of the Senate filibuster — which requires 60 members to vote in favor of ending speeches by senators who wish to block the chamber from taking action — has been in practice since 1975.

Obama presided over the end of its application to federal judges in 2011, when Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) — citing widespread Republican opposition to Obama’s judicial nominees — passed a rule requiring just 51 votes to confirm judges. Republicans reclaimed the Senate majority in the 2014 midterm election, and in 2017, ended the filibuster’s application to Supreme Court nominees in order to confirm Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s first nominee to the court, by a vote of 54-45.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has said he will leave the filibuster in place for legislation unrelated to judicial nominations for the duration of his tenure leading the chamber.

Referencing Lewis’ advocacy of the Voting Rights Act in his younger years, Obama added on Thursday, Americans “should keep marching to it even better.”

Watch above via MSNBC.