GOP Senators Going Squishy on Filibuster

John Fund in Political Diary brings us up-to-date on the latest effort of the GOP Senators to go squishy on the filibuster debate:

The Purple Boutique

GOP Senator Trent Lott has been itching for a way to get back into the political limelight ever since his injudicious comments at a birthday party for the late Strom Thurmond cost him his job as Majority Leader. Senator Ben Nelson is a Democrat from Nebraska who is desperate to assert his independence from a Democratic Party whose presidential nominee won only 33% of the vote in his state in 2004. Together, the two have found common cause in promoting a way to avert the imminent confrontation over judicial filibusters.

Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, reports that the two Senators believe they are close to a deal that could forestall triggering of the so-called "nuclear option" that would rule filibusters of judicial nominees out of order. The deal would involve having a half-dozen members of each party sign a memorandum of understanding that would bind them to certain actions on judicial nominations. Six Republicans would agree to block Majority Leader Bill Frist's plan to invoke the nuclear option and give up trying to seek confirmation of three of the seven federal appeals court nominees who were filibustered in the last Congress.

For their part, six Democrats would pledge to allow votes on the other four nominees and vote to cut off filibusters on all other judicial nominees named by President Bush for the next year and a half except in "extreme circumstances." The deal would include nominees for the Supreme Court, which could see one or two vacancies this summer. No commitments would be made for any nominations made after the 2006 elections.

The deal would satisfy neither side, but it would accomplish what the Senate is best at -- punting the problem of judicial filibusters down the road. It also might not even solve the impasse temporarily. After all, one Senator's definition of "extreme circumstances" may differ from another's, and then the Senate could be back into pitched warfare again.

What does this mean? It means that three highly qualified conservative judges will be abandoned by the Republicans and will forever be demeaned as "extreme". In other words, the Dems win.

And who defines "extreme circumstances"? Any single Dem Senator could decide any particular judge was too "extreme" to serve, and we'd be right back where we are today.

Frist and the Republicans need to forget any of these silly negotiations and push for a vote on all judges. If the Dems filibuster, bring in the Vice President and get a ruling which restores the majority vote to the judicial confirmation process. Get it done...now!

UPDATE - Hugh Hewitt is reporting on his radio show this afternoon that the deal above is now dead. We'll see. Here's Lott's statement (h/t Confirm Them):

Susan Irby, Lott’s communications director, issued a statement saying there was in fact no deal and that Lott remained committed to having an up-or-down vote on all the pending judicial nominees.