Ergo, 48+2+Cheney = Victory.
There are but 3 "hard" points that are clear violations of the MOU, and 1 of them has just been cleared. Once cloture is invoked for Brown and Pryor and the other 2 "hard" points are cleared, the RATs can obstruct all they want by claiming "extraordinary" circumstances.
True, but the "extraordinary circumstances" bar has been raised almost impossibly high by the fact that the three most 'extreme' candidates will have been given cloture.
any SCOTUS nominee who would vote to toss Roe v Wade - will automatically activate the "extradordinary circumstances" concept. what happens to these 3 judges that pass, and the ones that don't, is damn near meaningless. will the Rs on the compromise team change their minds when they see a SCOTUS nominee being blocked? You would suspect that would have come up in the discussions on this deal. It surely did, and you can be sure that the Dems have it in their back pocket - none of these 7 will peel off when the battle for the SCOTUS is at hand. It may not happen with Rehnquist's seat, because replacing him with a conservative is an "even trade". Try and replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Owens or Brown, and watch what happens.
Agreed. I don't understand why people can't see right through this. Every single nomination will be labeled extraordinary.