{ "id": "R40948", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R40948", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 586619, "date": "2017-04-24", "retrieved": "2020-01-02T14:37:00.108376", "title": "Constitutional Points of Order in the Senate", "summary": "In general, the Senate\u2019s presiding officer does not take the initiative in enforcing Senate rules and precedents. Instead, a Senator may raise a point of order if he or she believes the Senate is taking (or is about to take) an action that violates the rules. In most circumstances, the presiding officer rules on the point of order on advice of the Parliamentarian; that ruling is typically subject to an appeal on which the Senate votes (unless the appeal is tabled or withdrawn). Pursuant to Rule XX, however, in certain circumstances a point of order is not ruled on by the presiding officer but is instead submitted to the Senate for its decision. A point of order that a pending matter (a bill or amendment, for example) violates the U.S. Constitution presents one such circumstance. This report explains Senate rules, precedents, and practices in regard to these constitutional points of order, including an analysis of recent cases in which such a point of order has been raised, and will be updated as events warrant.\nA Senator can raise a constitutional point of order against any pending matter unless a unanimous consent agreement prohibits points of order or provides for a vote on the pending matter without any intervening action. A unanimous consent agreement may also affect the time at which it is in order to raise a point of order. If a specific amount of debate has been agreed to for the pending matter, the point of order cannot be raised until the time has expired or been yielded back. While past practice has varied, the Senate\u2019s rules and precedents currently require a constitutional point of order to be submitted to the Senate for disposition, with a majority of those voting (a quorum being present) required to sustain the point of order. The point of order is debatable, though the time for debate may be subject to limitations under a unanimous consent agreement or under cloture, in some circumstances, pursuant to statutory provisions. The submitted point of order is, however, subject to a non-debatable motion to table.\nThis report identifies 17 constitutional points of order that have been raised and received a Senate vote since 1989. Eleven of these cases were disposed of negatively.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40948", "sha1": "d8196b6705da36e6b4f5733c1f60fd2f5a678ae5", "filename": "files/20170424_R40948_d8196b6705da36e6b4f5733c1f60fd2f5a678ae5.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40948", "sha1": "f91d1025d3551106269434757ec15cc9e3197a91", "filename": "files/20170424_R40948_f91d1025d3551106269434757ec15cc9e3197a91.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4747, "name": "Senate Floor Procedure" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 436459, "date": "2014-12-17", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T19:48:15.369297", "title": "Constitutional Points of Order in the Senate", "summary": "In general, the Senate\u2019s presiding officer does not take the initiative in enforcing Senate rules and precedents. Instead, a Senator may raise a point of order if he or she believes the Senate is taking (or is about to take) an action that violates the rules. In most circumstances, the presiding officer rules on the point of order on advice of the Parliamentarian; that ruling is typically subject to an appeal on which the Senate votes (unless the appeal is tabled or withdrawn). Pursuant to Rule XX, however, in certain circumstances a point of order is not ruled on by the presiding officer but is instead submitted to the Senate for its decision. A point of order that a pending matter (a bill or amendment, for example) violates the U.S. Constitution presents one such circumstance. This report explains Senate rules, precedents, and practices in regard to these constitutional points of order, including an analysis of recent cases in which such a point of order has been raised, and will be updated as events warrant.\nA Senator can raise a constitutional point of order against any pending matter unless a unanimous consent agreement prohibits points of order or provides for a vote on the pending matter without any intervening action. A unanimous consent agreement may also affect the time at which it is in order to raise a point of order. If a specific amount of debate has been agreed to for the pending matter, the point of order cannot be raised until the time has expired or been yielded back. While past practice has varied, the Senate\u2019s rules and precedents currently require a constitutional point of order to be submitted to the Senate for disposition, with a majority of those voting (a quorum being present) required to sustain the point of order. The point of order is debatable, though the time for debate may be subject to limitations under a unanimous consent agreement or, in some circumstances, pursuant to statutory provisions. The submitted point of order is, however, subject to a non-debatable motion to table.\nThis report identifies 17 constitutional points of order that have been raised and received a Senate vote since 1989. Eleven of these cases were disposed of negatively.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40948", "sha1": "13294f0b89a0a3a8313ca7d7b6f561fbcd3ac227", "filename": "files/20141217_R40948_13294f0b89a0a3a8313ca7d7b6f561fbcd3ac227.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40948", "sha1": "0dd4b19454e4903c431da79e98f34a337c1f91a8", "filename": "files/20141217_R40948_0dd4b19454e4903c431da79e98f34a337c1f91a8.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "CongOpsList", "id": 4140, "name": "Senate Floor Proceedings" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491604/", "id": "R40948_2014Nov12", "date": "2014-11-12", "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46", "title": "Constitutional Points of Order in the Senate", "summary": "This report explains Senate rules, precedents, and practices in regard to constitutional points of order that are not ruled on by the presiding officer but is instead submitted to the Senate for its decision, including an analysis of recent cases in which such a point of order has been raised, and will be updated as events warrant. The report identifies 16 constitutional points of order that have been raised and received a Senate vote since 1989. Ten of these cases were disposed of negatively.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20141112_R40948_349f19e9095b3bfc9ec57624560f323def7dcad5.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20141112_R40948_349f19e9095b3bfc9ec57624560f323def7dcad5.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Congress", "name": "Congress" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Senate", "name": "Senate" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Senate rules and procedure", "name": "Senate rules and procedure" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Constitutional Questions", "Legislative Process" ] }