ConfirmThem

By AndrewHyman Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Several Democrats are reportedly offering to allow votes on Brown, McKeague, Griffin, and Pryor in return for dumping Myers, Owen, and Saad. This report by David Espo of Associated Press says that the proposal has been presented by Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson to Senators Frist and Reid. Frist's spokeswoman says the Majority Leader "is going to satisfy the principle of the up-or-down vote...."

According to a Reuters report, "Nelson was confident he had enough Democrats on board for his possible compromise, but was still working to attract a total of six Republicans, an aide said."

Here are further excerpts from the Reuters report about the increasingly likely vote to put time limits on filibusters of appellate court nominees:

Democrats said they were a couple of votes short in this struggle that could shift the balance of power between Congress and the White House.
.....
Republican leaders insist they will have the 51 votes needed to abolish such filibusters. But Democrats insist it is still too close to call.

Reid, who has been trying for more than a month to reach a compromise with Frist, said: "I don't think Senator Frist is capable of working something out on this. I think he is going to try to satisfy the radical right."
.....
Sens. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, are seeking a possible compromise of their own. Their aim is to provide six Democratic votes to win confirmation of some of the disputed nominees as well as six Republican votes to preserve the judicial filibuster.

As part of their proposed deal, many of the specifics yet to be finalized, Democrats would pledge not to filibuster future judicial nominees except in "extreme circumstances."

"The problem (is) … if you use the word 'extraordinary' or 'extreme circumstances,' how would that be defined and who would make the determination," Sen. Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, told CNN. "That's very difficult to do."

But Lott, who has also tried to find common ground, said, "We should look at all options."

Reid and Frist had dinner on Sunday, but Reid said the conversation was limited. "The only talk last night was how good the duck was," Reid told reporters.

If Myers, Owen, and Saad are such abysmal nominees, then the Democrats should have no problem attracting a few Republicans to vote against them in an up-or-down vote. It therefore seems very strange that the Democrats would want to wheel and deal in order to prevent such a vote from ever occuring for these three nominees.

Dumping any of the nominees would be unreasonable, and would really set a horrible precedent that the minority can complain long enough and loudly enough to ultimately defeat a majority-supported judicial nominee. Personally, I have no problem if a deal is struck, if it's a fair one. David Broder recently outlined a very fair deal, and so did Sen. Frist. Neither of those deals would have dumped any majority-supported judicial nominees.

NOTE: Here's a quote from Sen. Lott on CNN's Inside Politics earlier today:

I don't see how compromise can be reached without allowing the seven judges that were blocked last year and the year before, the seven re-nominated judges from getting an up-or-down vote.

Me neither.