Who's Got Cold Feet Now?

It's been interesting to watch the extended debate over judicial filibusters. We've had such gems as John McCain who don't want to change the rules because someday the GOP may be in the minority and may want that tool in their arsenal. That's just what we need - Republicans planning for defeat.

On the other hand we have the Dems who are acting as though they'll never again be in the majority. By desperately insisting that the rules not be changed and threatening to shut down the Senate, they're admitting that they don't have much confidence in their '06 & '08 electoral chances. They have basically admitted defeat and don't want to lose what little power they have over judicial nominees. Their actions indicate that they don't plan to be in power anytime in the near future.

Now that it appears that the GOP has the votes and Frist is willing to pull the trigger, suddenly the Dems are getting cold feet. They're beginning to realize that the GOP may not be risking much of a political price after all, and the Dems will have no exit strategy should they take a firm stand. Another problem for the Dems is the fact that the first two judges they'll be filibustering will be women, and one of them a minority. That sort of shoots down their frequent arguments for diversity.

John Fund writes about it in today's Political Diary:

As the Senate moves towards a confrontation on the use of filibusters to block seven of President Bush's judicial nominees, Democrats may be getting nervous about Majority Leader Bill Frist's vow to use Senate rules to break the logjam. Sen. Joseph Biden, a former Democratic chairman of the Judiciary Committee, appeared on ABC News yesterday to say there was still time to cut a deal: "I think we should compromise and say to them that... we'll let a number" of the seven judges "go through, the two most extreme not go through and put off this vote and compromise." Minority Leader Harry Reid also made clear yesterday he is looking for a compromise.

One reason for the Democratic skittishness is the belief that, even though polls show some public sympathy for Democratic arguments about enshrining minority rights in the Senate, there is no clear political exit strategy for Democrats. "If Frist pushes through an end to judicial filibusters this spring, their leverage over a Supreme Court nominee this summer ends," says a former Democratic staffer on the Judiciary Committee. In addition, the first two nominees that Republicans would bring up to break the filibuster are the two most appealing nominees: Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen has been waiting for four years for a Senate floor vote; California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown has an attractive life story as the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper who rose to the highest court in the nation's most populous state. A showdown over filibusters against the two women would finally focus media attention on tactics Democrats are using and might not play in their favor.

There's only one way for the GOP to play this - no compromise. Either all of the nominees get a vote or Frist pulls the trigger on the nuclear option. We shouldn't give up a single one of these highly qualified judges.

My only fear now (besides the possibility of weak-kneed Republican Senators) is that the Dems will fold now in hopes of saving the battle for the Supreme Court. I'd rather have Frist trigger the nuclear option now, than have another battle when the first Supreme Court nominee doesn't meet the liberal standards of the Dems.

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