Robert Byrd: “Just the whisper of opposition brings the world's greatest deliberative body to a grinding halt.”

Makes the majority leader and the majority party the subject of the minority, subject to the control and the will of the minority.

I have said that, as long as the Senate retains the power to amend and the power of unlimited debate, the liberties of the people will remain secure.

The Framers recognized that a minority can be right and that a majority can be wrong.

I respectfully exercise my Fifth Amendment right and decline to answer.