amen corner: the area of the Senate where presidential yes-men and party loyalists sit; an area where political insiders gather
The amen corner was originally the spot in a church reserved for worshippers who liked to participate actively in the service by shouting "Amen!" at regular intervals. The phrase gained its political meaning during the 1880s. An early example in print comes from an 1884 Congressional Record: "When commiserated upon the fact that he was compelled to go to what is commonly known here as the amen corner, [he] frankly said that any seat in the Senate was better than none."
Other places where politicians and their hangers-on gather have also been known as amen corners. The southwest corner of the lobby in New York's Fifth Avenue Hotel, a popular gathering place of Republican politicians during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was known by this name. According to the story, the name was coined when New York senator Thomas C. Platt lived there. Platt often conferred with party bigwigs in the hotel's parlor on Sunday mornings. Smaller fry were not invited, so they gathered in the lobby to await events. One morning a journalist noticed them and asked what they were doing. One of the loiterers explained that they were waiting to hear what the party bosses had decided so they could say "Amen" to it.