| This was a procedural vote (60-vote supermajority needed) to overcome objections to considering a bill (S. 1751) that was opposed by most national consumer, health, civil rights and environmental groups. The bill would impair consumers' ability to redress harms caused by corporate wrongdoing by letting defendants move most state class action lawsuits to federal court. Corporations prefer to be sued in federal court because federal judges are less likely to certify a case to proceed, more reticent to interpret state law in novel ways and more willing to permit state laws to be preempted by federal law. Failed: 59 Yea to 39 Nay. |