BLOWING UP THE SENATE.(possible reform of legislative filibusters over President George W. Bush's judicial nominations)

Most popular histories of Congress include an exchange, very likely apocryphal, in which Washington and Jefferson discuss the difference between the House and the Senate. "Why did you pour that coffee into your saucer?" Washington asks. "To cool it," Jefferson replies. "Even so," Washington says, "we pour legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it." For Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat and a senator since 1973, the Senate remains a place where "you can always slow things down and make sure that a minority gets a voice," he said recently. And, he added, "the chance to filibuster"--using extended debate in order to block legislation--"is what makes the difference ...