No Nuke-u-ler Option

There has been a truce called in the filibuster war. As reported by the AP at 8:50 tonight, the Senate has reached a compromise regarding judicial nominees.

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 appeals courts, 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.

So the dreaded "nuclear option" will not be utilized. I suppose that is good news. Now comes the bad news...

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

I wish there would be further debate on the Senate floor regarding Owen, but I ain't holding my breath.

Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall posted an email from a Texas lawyer suggesting that Owen on the Fifth Circuit, while bad, would not be as bad as having Janice Rogers Brown on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. I have to disagree with my fellow member of the Texas Bar. As I said in concluding The Senate should reject Priscilla Owen,

I guarantee that if Owen gets confirmed to the Fifth Circuit, and a place on the Supreme Court opens up while Bush is still in office, Priscilla Owen will be nominated for that position (unless Rehnquist retires, in which case Scalia will precede Owen). I believe that Bush is not interested in long term plans the way Reagan was when he got to appoint the majority of the federal judiciary. Bush wants big changes, and he wants them now. The only way he can do that in terms of the judiciary is to appoint extremist, highly activist judges to appellate positions. That's why Priscilla Owen's nomination was resubmitted.

Mark my words, America. This is a dangerous situation which needs to be avoided, and such avoidance must start with the rejection of Priscilla Owen.

That makes Owen far more dangerous than Brown.