Filibustering

One way to examine the history of filibustering is to look at the number of cloture motions (motions to end debate) filed. The history is interesting; apparently there was a rule prior to 1806 which limited debate in the senate.  I'm still looking for a reliable reference, but one anecdote says "Aaron Burr recommended getting rid of the rule because it was almost never used, and besides, senators were gentlemen who knew when to stop talking."

Here's some data about cloture motions, and thus, possibly, who uses the filibuster the most.  It looks like Republicans take the prize for escalating the filibuster when they're in the minority; Democrats continue to use it when they become the minority at roughly the same level as was previously used by Republicans.  Then Republicans become the minority, and again increase use of the filibuster.

Here's another take on the graph, and some really interesting analysis of its meaning: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/the-history-of-the-filibuster-in-one-graph/2012/05/15/gIQAVHf0RU_blog.html

And some related points: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/16/wonkbook-10-facts-that-explain-the-filibuster-fight/

Raw data in OpenOffice spreadsheet form is at http://www.jrandrews.org/politics/cloture.ods.  Data sources are:

http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/reference/cloture_motions/clotureCounts.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm