Arizona State University political scientist Steven Smith said that President Woodrow Wilson supported the first of several filibuster workarounds, which was enacted in 1917.
Notes on verification
Confirmed via direct quote match in PolitiFact article with named source (Steven S. Smith, ASU political scientist, specialist in Senate filibuster history), corroborated by Senate.gov official history, Brookings testimony, and other independent sources on Wilson's 1917 cloture rule. [cascade flags: wikipedia_dropped_other_sources_exist | tier=silver indep_score=1.0 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable | framework convergence=partial on PolitiFact article is the likely origin of the exact wording reproduced by Al Jazeera (upstreams: PolitiFact interview with Steven Smith (Nov 3, 2025)) — publishers independent, evidence may not be | kind=attributed eligibility=high (extractor: attributed/medium)]
Sources
- The federal shutdown and the Senate filibuster: What could happen now? | Donald Trump News | Al Jazeera (seed:politics_and_current_events)
- https://www.senate.gov/about/powers-procedures/filibusters-cloture/senate-adopts-cloture-rule.htm (corroboration)
- https://politifact.com/article/2025/nov/04/trump-government-shutdown-filibuster-senate/ (corroboration)
- https://brookings.edu/testimonies/the-history-of-the-filibuster/amp (corroboration)