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In
parliamentary procedure
Parliamentary procedure is the accepted rules, ethics, and customs governing meetings of an assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization and thus to arrive at the sense or t ...
, an objection to the consideration of a question is a
motion
In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and mea ...
that is adopted to prevent an original
main motion
In parliamentary procedure, a motion is a formal proposal by a member of a deliberative assembly that the assembly take certain action. Such motions, and the form they take are specified by the deliberate assembly and/or a pre-agreed volume detaili ...
from coming before the
assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
. This motion is different from an objection to a
unanimous consent
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...
request.
Explanation and use
If a member feels that an original main motion should not be considered, an objection to the consideration of a question could be made. It is often used to prevent an embarrassing question from being introduced and debated in the assembly.
According to ''
Robert's Rules of Order
''Robert's Rules of Order'', often simply referred to as ''Robert's Rules'', is a manual of parliamentary procedure by U.S. Army officer Henry Martyn Robert.
"The object of Rules of Order is to assist an assembly to accomplish the work for which ...
Newly Revised'' (RONR), this motion is not debatable and requires a two-thirds vote against consideration.
This objection may be applied only to an original main motion, that is, a motion that brings a new substantive issue before the assembly.
The objection may be raised only before debate has begun on the motion, as the purpose is to completely suppress debate on the motion.
According to ''
Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure
''Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure'', commonly referred to as ''Mason's Manual'', is the official parliamentary authority of most state legislatures in the United States. This 700+ page book has been "Adopted as the authority on questions ...
'', the purpose of the objection to consideration is to bar from discussion or consideration "any matter that is considered irrelevant, contentious or unprofitable, or that, for any reason, is thought not advisable to discuss."
This motion is different from an objection to a unanimous consent request.
''
The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure
''The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure'' (formerly the ''Sturgis Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure'' by Alice Sturgis) is a book of rules of order. It is the second most popular parliamentary authority in the United States after ' ...
'' does not have this motion and provides alternative motions for accomplishing the same purpose.
Improper use of tabling a motion
Using the rules in RONR, a main motion is improperly killed by
tabling it. In this case, before debate has begun, it would have been proper to make an objection to the consideration of the question.
See also
*
Debate (parliamentary procedure)
Debate in parliamentary procedure refers to discussion on the merits of a pending question; that is, whether it should or should not be agreed to. It is also commonly referred to as "discussion".
Purpose
When a motion has been made and is before ...
*
Postpone indefinitely
In parliamentary procedure, the motion to postpone indefinitely is a subsidiary motion used to kill a main motion without taking a direct vote on it. This motion does not actually "postpone" it.
Explanation and use
In ''Robert's Rules of Order ...
*
Previous question In US parliamentary procedure, the previous question (also known as "calling for the question", "calling the question", "close debate", "calling for a vote", "vote now", or other similar forms) is generally used as a motion to end debate on a pendin ...
*
Table (parliamentary procedure)
In parliamentary procedure, the verb to table has the opposite meaning in the United States from that of the rest of the world:
*In the United States, to "table" usually means to postpone or suspend consideration of a pending motion.
*In the rest o ...
References
{{Parliamentary Procedure
Incidental motions