Hat Tip to Instapundit for providing the answer to the question I raised the other day.

Is Miers An Extraordinary Nomination?

He cites this report from The Hill

The Gang of 14’s centrist Democratic and Republican senators met and gave preliminary approval yesterday to Harriet Miers as President Bush’s nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.

Emerging from a meeting at the offices of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, “This nomination didn’t set off any alarm bells with any of us.”

The significance of this provisional endorsement, though presented in a low-key fashion, could be huge, for it means that unless damning evidence emerges during the Judiciary Committee’s as-yet unscheduled confirmation hearings the nominee is unlikely to be filibustered, and a party-line vote would mean confirmation. A party-line vote is far from assured because conservatives have not welcomed the nomination.

Republican Senator Olympia Snow is talking about the nomination not setting off alarm bells. Excuse me, but I thought it was the Democrat half of the gang that had it's alarms set for extraordinary circumstances that would trigger a filibuster.

If you doubt that the fecklessness of the Republican half of the Gang of 14 played a major role in a known solid conservative jurist not being nominated, you haven't been paying attention. Having 55 Republican Senators is of little value in a fierce ideological fight when you can reasonably expect seven of them to either not support you, or fight for the other side.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 06:50 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment