“The top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee reached an agreement yesterday evening to wait until next Tuesday to vote on the nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court,” reports Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post.


From a blog I’ve never heard of — Manufacturers’ Blog (sigh, guess everybody has a blog these days):

[F]rom this Washington Post story, which will be played out in every other newspaper today, … In other words, the Senate can’t get its work done. In the face of all-but certain confirmation, the Democrats in the Senate have decided to stall. This first of all violates a gentleman’s agreement made Senator Leahy (D-VT), ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, to Committee Chair Specter (R-PA) to mvoe this to a swift Committee vote. It’s the Senate equivalent of taking your ball and going home — for a week — because you’re about to lose the game.


For more on Leahy’s move, see GOPBloggers‘ “Petty, Childish Democrats Delay Alito Vote.” Heh. Adds Reddhead at FireDogLake:

Sen. Harry Reid was asked about the delay and Bill Frist’s comments that it was a partisan tactic to stall:

“This is a key swing vote on the Supreme Court and Democrats are not going to be rushed into anything,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada.


Well, now that’s more like it. Plain spoken, straight out yet polite STFU to Frist. Well done. Would that Harry Reid’s office had been contacted by the NYTimes for their rending of garments article on Sunday.


The good news is that some strategy may actually be planned at tomorrow’s Senate Democratic Caucus meeting.


Oooooh, stop it. Stop teasing me with the prospect of coordination and coherent messages. It’s making me tingly.


Oh, and Frist, may I say, has again failed to force things through on his terms — is he the weakest majority leader that everyone else can remember, too, or is it just me?


While it’s not a win, it’s at least a victory in a part of the skirmish —


What think thee? My two cents: I don’t know if we can muster the votes to avoid cloture, but we can press our case for the danger of Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court, which will surely expand the powers of King George and negate any future investigations or legislation aimed at curbing out-of-control domestic spying.

(Yes, I know I’ve said that it’s all but over, but I like this move by the Democrats very much — it shows we’ve got some clout and some punch — and I hope we take advantage of this! It’s also delightful that it pisses off the GOP bloggers so much. But, for us, the only things at stake are the future of the country and the world. If next week’s moves end unhappily, we slog on. Sound like a plan?)


This Reuters title makes me me damn proud: “Democrats force delay on high court nominee vote.”