When lawmakers want to delay legislation from moving forward, they filibuster. In simple terms, that means they talk for a long time to hold up the bill.
On social media, some users are presenting mangled history about the filibuster to take a swipe at Democrats over civil rights.
The posts, which have appeared on Facebook and Twitter, say:
"The longest filibuster in U.S. history was 75 days. It took place in 1964, when Democrats tried to block the Civil Rights Act. It’d be a shame if this went viral."
The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
There was a lengthy fight in Washington before the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, but the post gets some aspects of history wrong and lumps all Democrats together in opposition. Democrats introduced the legislation and led its passage.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and provided protection of voting rights, banned discrimination in public facilities and established equal employment opportunity.
Getting it passed wasn’t easy.
The longest continuous debate in U.S. Senate history was brought on by a group of Southern Democrats over the legislation. But many northern Democrats supported the bill, and the filibuster lasted 60 days, not 75, according to the Senate’s website.
Robert Gordon, a legal historian and law professor at Stanford University, told PolitiFact the post’s claim is misleading and pointed to Democratic support of the bill.