parliamentarian of the United States Senate

{{Short description |Official advisor on parliamentary procedure}}

{{Use American English|date = April 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = April 2019}}

{{Infobox official post

| post = Parliamentarian

| body = the
United States Senate

| insignia = Seal of the United States Senate.svg

| insigniacaption = Seal of the United States Senate

| image = Elizabeth MacDonough official portrait.jpg

| incumbent = Elizabeth MacDonough

| acting =

| incumbentsince = 2012

| department = United States Senate

| type = Parliamentarian

| member_of = Senate Dais

| reports_to =

| nominator =

| appointer = Senate Majority Leader

| appointer_qualified =

| termlength = Serves at the pleasure of the Majority Leader

| termlength_qualified =

| constituting_instrument = Standing Rules of the United States Senate

| formation = 1935

| first = Charles L. Watkins

| salary = $203,700{{cite web |first=Ida A. |last=Brudnick |title=Congressional Salaries and Allowances: In Brief |url=https://www.senate.gov/CRSpubs/9c14ec69-c4e4-4bd8-8953-f73daa1640e4.pdf |work=Congressional Research Service |date=April 11, 2018 |access-date=February 26, 2021}}

}}

{{United States Senate}}

The Parliamentarian of the United States Senate is the official advisor to the United States Senate on the interpretation of Standing Rules of the United States Senate and parliamentary procedure. Incumbent parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has held the office since 2012, appointed by then-Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

As the Presiding officer of the Senate may not be, and usually is not, aware of the parliamentary situation currently facing the Senate, a parliamentary staff sits second from the left on the Senate dais to advise the presiding officer on how to respond to inquiries and motions from senators (including "the Sergeant at Arms will restore order in the gallery"). The role of the parliamentary staff is advisory, and the presiding officer or Senate may overrule the advice of the Parliamentarian. In practice, this is rare; the most recent example of a Vice President (as President of the Senate) overruling the parliamentarian was Nelson Rockefeller in 1975.{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/61376-healthcare-reform-and-reconciliation-a-bad-mix-ex-parliamentarian-says/|work=The Hill|title=Healthcare reform and reconciliation a bad mix, ex-parliamentarian says|first=Jeffrey|last=Young|date=February 16, 2010|access-date=March 23, 2017}} That ruling was extremely controversial,{{cite report |author=Walter J. Oleszek |date=February 23, 2016 |title=Amending Senate Rules at the Start of a New Congress, 1953-1975: An Analysis with an Afterword to 2015 |url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44395 |publisher=Congressional Research Service |page=56 |access-date=July 17, 2021 |quote="His decisions, especially the furor aroused by Rockefeller’s recognition practices, triggered such vehement criticism that it created a hostile mood in the chamber."}} to such an extent that the leaders of both parties immediately met and agreed that they did not want this precedent to stand, so the next week the Senate altered the rule under consideration via standard procedure.{{cite web|url=https://www.senate.gov/about/officers-staff/vice-president/VP_Nelson_Rockefeller.htm|work=United States Senate|title=Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller, 41st Vice President (1974-1977)|access-date=July 17, 2021}} The Senate majority leader may also fire the parliamentarian, as occurred in 2001 during a dispute between parliamentarian Robert Dove and Majority Leader Trent Lott.{{cite news |last = Dewar|first = Helen |title=Key Senate Official Loses Job in Dispute With GOP|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/05/08/key-senate-official-loses-job-in-dispute-with-gop/e2310021-0f14-4667-a261-54e6c033207c/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=May 8, 2001|access-date=November 29, 2022}}