unanimous consent

Definition

Agreement by all members to proceed without formal voting or to suspend rules, requiring just one objection to block. It's how legislatures handle routine business quickly until one person decides to be difficult.

Example Usage

The Senate tried to approve the nomination by unanimous consent, but one senator objected because he'd skipped lunch and was taking it out on everyone.

Origin

Traditional parliamentary procedure from British legislative practice

Fun Fact

In the Senate, a single objection to unanimous consent can force days of procedural delay, giving individual senators disproportionate power to obstruct—which explains why some bills take longer to schedule than to debate.

Source: Legislative procedure textbooks and parliamentary rules documentation

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