The popular image of a “filibuster” looks something like the marathon monologue delivered by Jimmy Stewart’s character in Mr Smith Goes to Washington. Bernie Sanders played to that image in 2012 when he delivered an eight-hour speech denouncing a deal that extended George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy. The stemwinder helped make Bernie a progressive hero and laid the basis for his two presidential runs.

But the reality of contemporary filibusters isn’t represented by either Mr Smith or Mr Sanders. In fact, Bernie’s speech wasn’t technically a filibuster at all.

Here’s how they actually work now: senators’ offices get “hotline” emails from leaders asking if anyone wants to filibuster a given nominee or bill. While US senators (and state-level equivalents like Wendy Davis) who engaged in “talking filibusters” sometimes had to go as far as equipping themselves with urinary catheters before all those hours of talking, today a junior staffer can simply call their party’s “cloak room” to let them know that the senator they work for intends to “place a hold” on whatever the “hotline” was about. That’s it. That’s the filibuster.