Filibustered!

Honestly—I go over to my parents’ for dinner and I miss everything!

So the nuclear option has been averted:

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.

"In a Senate that has become increasingly partisan and polarized, the bipartisan center held," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman (news, bio, voting record), D-Conn., one of 14 senators — seven from each party — to pledge their "mutual trust and confidence" on the deal.

[…]

Under the terms, Democrats agreed to allow final confirmation votes for Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor, named to appeals court seats. There is "no commitment to vote for or against" the filibuster against two other conservatives named to the appeals court, Henry Saad and William Myers.

The agreement said future judicial nominees should "only be filibustered under extraordinary circumstances," with each Democratic senator holding the discretion to decide when those conditions had been met.

[…]

While the agreement was signed by only 14 senators, they held the balance of power in a sharply divided Senate — able to thwart continued Democratic filibusters, on the one hand, and block GOP attempts to alter filibuster practices on the other.

Republicans, moving quickly, said they would seek to confirm Owen as early as Tuesday, with other cleared nominees to follow quickly.

This is, admittedly, a total pisser for our side for a variety of reasons (not the least of which being I don’t like the idea of twats like Lieberman running the Democratic show), but there are a couple of things to consider here before we go apeshit. First, as long as an uncompromising and radical GOP holds a 10-seat majority, we were never going to get everything we wanted on this issue, unfortunately. Secondly, and quite importantly, the checks and balances of our democracy have not been further undermined. If those two points still make this whole thing seem a bit of a dull thud victory-wise, consider that there has been a nuclear reaction to the GOP’s inability to pass the nuclear option from the diehard wingnuts. The backlash begins thusly…

Freepers via dKos:

I just left the GoP. I'm done with them. Cowards.

The GOP is now dead to me. Bill Frist....ah why even bother..

This is a sad day for the Republican party, and the conservative movement in this country! The Dems will likely gain in Congress in 2006 because of this kind of cowardice. What's the matter with you folks in Arizona????? Is McCain the best you can do??

Republican moderate - horse sugar! What a bunch of stupid little pricks.

James Dobson via AMERICAblog:

“This Senate agreement represents a complete bailout and betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats. Only three of President Bush’s nominees will be given the courtesy of an up-or-down vote, and it's business as usual for all the rest. The rules that blocked conservative nominees remain in effect, and nothing of significance has changed. Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Antonin Scalia, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist would never have served on the U. S. Supreme Court if this agreement had been in place during their confirmations. The unconstitutional filibuster survives in the arsenal of Senate liberals.

"We are grateful to Majority Leader Frist for courageously fighting to defend the vital principle of basic fairness. That principle has now gone down to defeat. We share the disappointment, outrage and sense of abandonment felt by millions of conservative Americans who helped put Republicans in power last November. I am certain that these voters will remember both Democrats and Republicans who betrayed their trust."

Also see the various responses being compiled at Crooks and Liars.

The choice was between losing some ground to extremist judges versus losing the filibuster altogether, because we’re dealing with unreasonable fucknuts. Right now, all I can do is take some comfort in the fact that the appearance of losing has angered the grassroots of the other side more thoroughly than I predicted, which is, frankly, delicious.

In the end, I’m not sure that will be enough to make up for the inevitably radicalization of our judiciary, though. I certainly hope it is.