The proposed transformation of the Senate threatens to replace the principle of the rights of the minority, so important to Madison, with a new principle that the might of the majority makes right. I urge senators to heed Madison’s warning in Federalist No. 63 about temporary majorities in the heat of passion enacting “measures which they themselves will afterwards be the most ready to lament and condemn.”
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, is a former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and currently serves as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This commentary is adapted from a Dec. 5 floor speech he delivered.
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