In politics, gridlock refers to the difficulty of passing laws fulfilling a party's political agenda

Political agenda

A political agenda is a set of issues and policies laid out by an executive or cabinet in government that tries to influence current and near-future political news and debate....

 in a legislature

Legislature

A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...

 that is nearly evenly divided, or in which two legislative houses, or the executive branch and the legislature are controlled by different political parties. In the United States politics

Politics of the United States

The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...

, gridlock frequently refers to occasions when the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 and the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 are controlled by different parties, or by a different party than the party of the president. Gridlock may also occur within the Senate, when no party has a filibuster

Filibuster

A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...

-proof majority.

Law professors such as Sanford Levinson

Sanford Levinson

Sanford Victor Levinson is a prominent American liberal law professor and acknowledged expert on Constitutional law and legal scholar and professor of government at the University of Texas Law School...

 and Adrian Vermeule

Adrian Vermeule

Adrian Vermeule, who is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, has been Professor of Law at Harvard Law School since 2006 and was named John H. Watson Professor of Law in 2008. He was a Visiting Professor of Law in 2005...

, as well as political commentators such as Matthew Yglesias, have criticized the U.S. Constitution and Senate voting rules for contributing to legislative gridlock.

See also: United States presidents and control of congress

United States presidents and control of congress

In United States history, the degree to which the President's political party has control over the House of Representatives and Senate often determines his or her political strength - such as the ability to pass sponsored legislation, ratify treaties, and have Cabinet members and judges approved...