The New York Times (among others) is reporting Bipartisan Agreement in Senate Averts a Showdown on Judges.
According to the article, the Democrats will let nominees Brown, Owen, and Pryor through the gate to get a floor vote. The article says that “no committment was made on the fate of two others, Myers and Saad.” I don’t know what that means exactly or why those two would be different than the other 6 nominees who weren’t mentioned. Democrats also promise to filibuster only in “extraordinary circumstances.” Republicans promised not to support changes to the Senate rules concerning filibusters.
The Democrats gave up something tangible in promising to allow votes on 3 of the judges they viewed as being the worst nominees. In return, the Democrats seemed to have received only illusory benefits. I don’t see anything that prevents Frist, Dobson, and Co. from going nuclear the very next time the Democrats attempt a filibuster. On the other hand, Daily Kos is reporting that the right-wing blogosphere is livid. Kos has also linked to a statement showing that James Dobson thinks his group was stabbed in the back.
Maybe I don’t fully understand the details here — and, indeed, the way the old guard Senators work, the important parts could be an unspoken gentleman’s understanding.
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