At Least They’re Peeved Too…

T.A. Frank of The New Republic rips into the filibuster deal:

So a deal has been struck on the filibuster. Republicans will allow Democrats to keep the filibuster as long as Democrats never use it. This way, both sides win (except for the Democrats).

The Congressional Black Caucus is also unhappy with the deal:

The 43-Member CBC, led by Chairman Mel Watt (D-N.C.), is also penning a letter today to the 100 Senators urging them to oppose the judicial nominations of Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor. Those nominees, expected to come up for consideration in the coming days, were guaranteed an up or down Senate vote as part of Monday’s agreement.

The CBC argued the two nominees “have documented histories of opposing rights of African Americans and of hostility to the broad mainstream of law and rights enacted by the Congress over the past 75 years.”

Which is typical boilerplate (and is especially insulting to an accomplished and wise jurist such as Justice Brown) for the CBC these days.

The fundamental issue is that the Democrats don’t want originalists appointed to the courts. Three strong and effective originalists have been appointed. If the Democrats filibuster, they have to justify these justices as being deserving of the most extreme measures. That increases the burden of proof on them and gives the Republicans some ammunition to paint them as deal-breakers. In that way, this deal is a victory for the GOP side.

On the other hand, the Democrats are still going to filibuster judicial nominees no matter what, and the media is so in their pocket that the Republicans will get demonized for breaking the deal no matter if Grand WizardSenator Byrd personally shreds and urinates upon the deal on the Senate floor. Rather than ending this whole sordid affair, the GOP has ensured that it sits in wait for a Supreme Court nomination to once again foul things up.

As G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “Compromise used to mean that half a loaf was better than no bread. Among modern statesmen it really seems to mean that half a loaf is better than a whole loaf.” Right now both Democrats and Republicans are sitting with half a loaf, neither side really getting what it wants in what will more than likely have been a compromise in vain.