A Compromise On Filibusters

Live Blogging the press conference, with Sen. McCain at the mike.

:The 7 R's and 7 D's have reached an agreement, with the approval of Sen. Reid and Sen Frist.  McCain is crediting Byrd and Warner as the senior members of the group.  Saad and Myers are on hold, Owen, Rogers Brown and Pryor will gain cloture on their votes.  That still leaves two of seven, and I'm not sure about them as they were not mentioned.

Any compromise that leaves in place the Senate Democrats ability to declare "extraordinary circumstances" and then filibuster in the future only delays an inevitable political confrontation.

:two bad options, constitutional option and political filibusters - both bad.  Major Garrett on Fox is saying White House won.  I'm not sure.

Obviously this heads off the confrontation tomorrow; whether that's a good thing depends on what happens with the next appeals court or supreme court nominee.  If they're automatically labeled "extremist" and filibustered, their nomination declared "dead on arrival," you'll know that the Bush White House did not win as Garrett thought.

UPDATE: I'll bet both Owen and Rogers Brown get better than 65 75 votes in the Senate.  There will be a number of Democrats who won't go on record voting against the two female nominees.  One of the reasons thay were filibustered is that it would be very difficult to vote against them.

UPDATE: Similar, and stronger, comments at Power Line.

Someone explain to me why the Republicans haven't been rolled once again. To me, it looks like a pathetic collapse on the part of the Republicans--not the leadership, but Senators like McCain who sold out their party.

Agreed.  If they were going to compromise at all it needed to be with all seven current nominees getting a vote.

UPDATE: Captain Ed is not impressed, either.

This, in short, has been a clear victory for the Democrats and a massive failure for the GOP and the White House. The GOP just endorsed the filibuster, and will have no intellectual capacity to argue against its use later on. They sold the Constitution just to get less than half of its blockaded nominees through, and the result will be much less flexibility on future Supreme Court nominations.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin's roundup.

UPDATE: Most conservatives have thought this a bad deal for Republicans.  Here's a contrarian viewpoint, at Polipundit.

UPDATE: On second thought, Captain Ed is a little more sanguine about the possibilities.

In short, this could be merely objectionable and not a debacle, depending on how the GOP signatories interpret "extraordinary circumstances". One must suspect that this has already been defined confidentially within the group, and like Sean Rushton surmises, ideology doesn't play a part in it any longer. Under no circumstances can this be seen as a good deal for the Senate majority or for Constitutional rule.

My take?

1. The words of the Constitution lose.  Nominees, according to that document, should not require 60 votes for confirmation.  They need to satisfy a majority of the Senators, not a supermajority.  In addition, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concludes with an admonition to the President to consult the Senate (does this mean the Democrats?) before nominating for a judgeship.  This analysis at BenchMemos at NRO indicates clearly that that was also not the intent of the wording.
2. If a nominee is blocked for anything less than the ethical problems of, say, Abe Fortas then the centrist group will have some 'splainin' to do.
3. I doubt Sen. Frist will get the credit, but going along with the deal may have been a "move to the center" to position himself for 2008.  Unfortunately he forgot that he'll have to win the Republican nomination first.  That'll be tough unless future nominations who are ethically clean see relatively smooth sailing.

UPDATE: Oh oh, Ace is not happy.  No sir.  Not.  One.  Bit.

Thank you, John McCain, for continuing to care so much about liberal media opinion and for continuing to suffer under the delusion that we're going to allow a Napoleon-complexed strutting peacock like you to be our President.

And this

The Democrats claim they will not filibuster again under any except "extraodinary circumnstances" -- but judging from the left-wing advocacy groups' ability to convince Charles Schumer et al. that a mainstream conservative is a threat to the very foundations of the Republic, I have a feeling that any conservative nominated to the Supreme Court will be deemed an "extraodinary" circumstance justifying a filibuster.

John McCain is in full peacock mode.

Others speak of "trust" ensuring the compromise holds. There is no trust. Democrats will not honor the agreement. It's that simple.

UPDATE: Over at The Moderate Voice Joe Gandelman has a post that, what else, praises the moderates.  There's an extensive roundup from all sides of the debate.

I'll have some additional and likely thoughtful musings on the topic shortly.