# what is said in a filibuster?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 24, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016 "2003-11-24T15:30:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016/21 "2003-11-25T16:26:34Z")
Ditto what **acsenray** said. The speech and debate clause has been construed to extend far beyond simple immunity from arrest, into protecting all sorts of legislative activities.
According to the Annotated Constitution: “Thus, so long as legislators are ‘‘acting in the sphere of legitimate legislative activity,’’ they are ‘‘protected not only from the consequence of litigation’s results but also from the burden of defending themselves.’’” Seems pretty broad to me.
And it is unimaginable to think how debate (even a filibuster) could not be construed to be within the sphere of legitimate legislative activity.
> **[Annotation 21 - Article I - FindLaw](https://constitution.findlaw.com/article1/annotation21.html)**
>
> Section 6. Rights and Disabilities of Members Clause 1. Compensation and Immunities Congressional Pay With the surprise ratification of the Twenty-Seventh
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [November 25, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016/22 "2003-11-25T16:41:48Z")
Probably not covered by copyright infringement but perhaps classifed and _definitely_ purposefully delayed in publication by the Nixon-era Department of Defense were the [Pentagon Papers](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/pentagon/pent1.html), 4000 pages of which became public domain when entered into the Congressional Record by Senator Michael Gravel in June, 1971.
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### Author:  [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016/23 "2003-11-29T19:22:01Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by brianmelendez \*
> \*\*The Congressional Record dates back to 1873, but the Senate’s debates – except when sitting in executive session – have been reported since the first Congress… \*\*
I believe this is incorrect. In the beginning the Senate was a more openly aristocratic body and its sessions were closed. The books I have read on the period use the private diary of Pennsylvania senator William Maclay as the main source of information on early Senate activities. Here’s what one historian has to say:
> [@](#):
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> **There being no record of debates in the First Senate ( other than Maclay’s journal ), the roll call votes displayed in the Senate _Journals_ provide our best glimpses into the minds of the individual senators.**
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> Thornton Anderson, _Creating the Constitution_
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### Author:  [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016/24 "2003-11-29T20:06:58Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brianmelendez \*
> **The Congressional Record dates back to 1873, but the Senate’s debates – except when sitting in executive session – have been reported since the first Congress …**
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by 2sense \*
> **I believe this is incorrect. In the beginning the Senate was a more openly aristocratic body and its sessions were closed. The books I have read on the period use the private diary of Pennsylvania senator William Maclay as the main source of information on early Senate activities.**
The Senate met almost exclusively in executive session until the fourth Congress: it began opening its doors to the press and public in 1794 and 1795. Its debates were not regularly transcribed until 1800, when the privately published _National Intelligencer_ began covering the debates (and, incidentally, letting senators edit their own speeches before publication, which has grown into the modern practice of “revising and extending” remarks that I wrote about earlier in this thread). Official, verbatim, gavel-to-gavel transcription of its debates did not begin until 1848.
But numerous sources – including individual senators like Maclay, as well as political newspapers – unofficially reported the proceedings, even during the early years’ closed sessions. These unofficial reports were later compiled in _The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States_, which does indeed report the proceedings back to the first Congress:
> [@](#):
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> **[Annals of Congress](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwac.html)**
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> The _Annals of Congress_, formally known as _The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States_, cover the 1st Congress through the first session of the 18th Congress, from 1789 to 1824. The _Annals_ were not published contemporaneously, but were compiled between 1834 and 1856, using the best records available, primarily newspaper accounts. Speeches are paraphrased rather than presented verbatim, but the record of debate is nonetheless fuller than that available from the House and Senate _Journals_.
>
> The _Annals_ were immediately succeeded by the _Register of Debates_, and subsequently by the _Congressional Globe_ and _Congressional Record_.
The [Government Printing Office](http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/about.html) agrees:
> [@](#):
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> Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873).
For the Senate’s own history of how its proceedings have been reported, see “[Reporters of Debate and the Congressional Record](http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Reporters_Debate_Congressional_Record.htm).”
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### Author:  [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-said-in-a-filibuster/215016/25 "2003-11-29T20:33:45Z")
Ah, thanks for the clarification. I should note that parts of[Maclay’s Journal](http://www.constitution.org/ac/maclay/) are also available online.
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