The Filibuster: 'Extraordinary Circumstances'

Well, the Republicans didn't have to go nuclear to get what they wanted.

In a dramatic reach across party lines, Senate centrists sealed a compromise Monday night that cleared the way for confirmation of many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, left others in limbo and preserved venerable filibuster rules.

Basically, there will be up or down votes for all of Bush's nominees but two (for now), and Democrats can only use the filibuster in 'extreme circumstances.' This is a phrase any lawyer worth his salt could drive a Mack truck through. Kos has the actual signed deal here.

What is an extreme circumstance? In a statement after releasing the agreement, John McCain said "we will try to do everything in our power to prevent filibusters in the future." If Republicans consider a candidate not 'extreme' enough for a filibuster, what prevents them from going nuclear then? And if Priscilla Owens, who is the lowest-rated judge on the Texas Supreme Court (according to the Houston Bar Association), isn't filibuster-worthy, then who is? This is a woman who even White House counsel Alberto Gonzales accused of "judicial activism" and who some accuse of being responsible for the death of a 22-year-old quadriplegic. Plainly, a bipartisan deal allowing this woman a job for life deciding our futures isn't the gem moderates claim it to be.

What's to stop Bush from nominating Owen for the Supreme Court, now that she's been deemed worthy by moderates? This deal stinks. Democrats should've stood up and voted. Either they would have remained standing with the filibuster intact, and stronger, or they would have gone down against a gang of rascals who don't have the heart to tell America the truth about what they're doing to the courts.