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Several circuit court nominees are still languishing just like they were before The Deal, as you can see from the links to "Circuit Nominees" listed over at the right-hand-side of our confirmthem home page. Brett Kavanaugh seems to be on ice until another vacancy opens up on the DC Circuit. William Myers and Terrence Boyle have been approved by the Judiciary Committee, but they still await up-or-down votes on the floor of the Senate. And, it appears that Willaim Haynes, Susan Bieke Neilson, and Henry Saad heven't come to a vote yet in committee.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), The Hill has a report about Judge Saad:

Republican leaders in Michigan’s Macomb and Oakland counties are pressuring Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to win an up-or-down vote on a controversial judicial nominee from the Wolverine State. They want McCain to use his influence to persuade his colleagues to clear Henry Saad, the nominee to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who was left out of the judicial deal Senate centrists struck last month. Conservative activists are launching a campaign this week to save Saad’s nomination, while Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee such as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are hinting that the nominee may not have enough support to pass out of committee.

It will be interesting to learn Senator Graham's reasons for opposing Judge Saad. A few days ago, Marshall Manson had a piece heaping praise on Judge Saad:

Saad was the least ideologically controversial of the five nominees that the deal addressed, yet his nomination was the first put on the chopping block. Sadly, Saad became a prop in the classic Senate parlor game, "Race you to the press conference." Led by Minority Leader Harry Reid, Saad's opponents have made defamatory references to his FBI file without providing any specifics. They throw around terms like "judicial temperament" and make it sound like Saad has something to hide.

If there are no Supreme Court retirement announcements on Tuesday, "that means every justice is expecting to return in October and believes they will be medically fit to return in October," according to historian David Garrow. Thus, if no retirements are announced tomorrow, then the focus may shift back to circuit court nominees, none of whom had ever been filibustered prior to 2003. In fact, no judicial nominee for any court had ever been denied an up-or-down vote by an endless filibuster on the Senate floor, prior to 2003. So, the fate of these six languishing circuit court nominees may determine if the pre-2003 traditions are restored, or not.