In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the Floor Leader of the second-largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat, with their counterpart being of the opposite party. In bicameral legislatures, the counterpart to the minority leader in the lower house is often the Speaker and the majority leader is hence only the second-most senior member of the majority caucus, whereas in the upper house the titular Speaker is often a separately-elected officer such as a lieutenant governor and the majority leader may in fact be the single most powerful member of the majority caucus. The Federal Government of the United States was established by the United States Constitution. ... Floor Leaders are distinguished positions in modern senates in the United States. ... A caucus is most generally defined as being a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement. ... Chamber of the Estates-General, the Dutch legislature. ... The Republican Party, often called the GOP (for Grand Old Party, although one early citation described it as the Gallant Old Party) [1], is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. ... In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. ... A lower house (sometimes known as the first chamber) is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. ... The term Speaker is usually the title given to the presiding officer of a countrys lower house of parliament or congress (i. ... The majority leader is a term used in congressional systems for the chamber leader of the party in control of a legislature. ... An upper house (Frequently known as a Senate) is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. ... A Lieutenant Governor is a government official who is the subordinate or deputy of a Governor or Governor-General. ...

The minority leader is often assisted in his role by whips, whose job is to enforce party discipline on votes deemed to be crucial by the party leadership and to ensure that members do not vote in a way not approved of by the party. Some votes are deemed to be so crucial as to lead to punitive measures (such as demotion from choice committee assignments) if the party line is violated; decisions such as these are often made by the minority leader in conjunction with other senior party leaders. In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. ... Party discipline is the ability of a political party to get its members to support the policies of the party leadership. ...

In a state where the executive branch and both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the other party, the minority leader of one of the houses (most often the upper one) may be seen as the seniormost member of the party in that state with regard to state government (although inferior in rank to a United States Senator or United States Representative, if there is such in that party from that state). A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. ... Under the doctrine of the separation of powers, the executive is the branch of a government charged with implementing, or executing, the law. ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ... Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Congress of the United States, the other being the Senate. ...

At times, particularly with regard to crucial legislation, the minority leader and other senior members of his/her party may be consulted with an eye to enacting such legislation on a bipartisan basis. The minority leader may also work closely with leaders in the majority party to ensure that provisions important to the interests of his party are included in legislation, which often occurs if it can be done without seeming to be seen as particularly harmful to the interests of the majority party. In a two-party system (such as in the United States), bipartisan refers to any bill, act, resolution, or any other action of a political body in which both of the major political parties are in agreement. ...

The level of partisanship in state legislative bodies varies greatly from one state to another, so the foregoing must be regarded as a guideline of rather typical circumstances rather than a reflection of the situation in every state.

See also

• United States Senate Minority Leader
• Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives.
• Majority leader