Washington – The Senate was a very different place Tuesday, the day after the deal that averted a showdown over judicial nominees.
How different? Priscilla Owen, first nominated in May 2001 to a federal appeals court only to be blocked four times by Democrats, sailed past another effort to block her on an 81-18 vote. She’s expected to win easy confirmation today.
Despite that, the Senate’s potential for eventual parliamentary Armageddon remains.
With their Monday night deal, seven Democrats and seven Republicans allowed three previously blocked judicial nominees to proceed to confirmation votes, but the standard they set for judging future nominees is so gauzy and fragile that senators interpreted it many ways. Some predicted that the unity of the 14 would be tested soon, while others hoped the coalition heralded a new day.
“Don’t overreact that this is a new coalition that’s been formed,” said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. “Whenever that coalition needs to be picked apart, we’ll pick it apart.”
The test could come as soon as next month if Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asks for a vote on William Myers, whom Democrats blocked last year from a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It could also come if President Bush has to make an appointment to the Supreme Court – a real possibility, given the poor health of Chief Justice William Rehn quist.
The seven Democrats who signed the deal made no commitment on whether they would vote to block Myers, and conservative activists pressed Frist to bring him up next to test the bipartisan group’s unity.
Myers is a lawyer who has represented mining interests and argued against federal regulation of wetlands, health and safety.
For now, though, the group of 14 was standing firm, an unlikely alliance of moderates and mavericks, newcomers and old bulls.
Over the course of a week, they negotiated a deal whereby the Republicans among them agreed not to alter long-observed Senate rules governing debate and the Democrats consented to refrain from blocking judicial nominees except in “extraordinary circumstances.”
Their deal spoiled an effort by Frist to change Senate rules by eliminating the filibuster, or endless debate, as a delaying tactic on judicial nominations. Senate rules require 60 of 100 votes to end a filibuster, and Republicans number only 55.
