If you’ve been following along, you already know about the three nominees to serve on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals who the Republicans plan on filibustering because, they claim, the DC Circuit doesn’t need any more judges. Reading Sahil Kapur’s piece for Talking Points Memo, you might get the impression that these three judges will eventually be confirmed. But when you read Sahil Kapur’s piece on today’s cloture vote on the nominee to head the Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms department, that optimism is likely to vanish.

At the last minute, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) changed her ‘no’ vote to ‘yes,’ which will likely end up being the key vote. After her vote, 59 ‘yes’ votes had been cast for Jones, and senators said the vote was being held open while Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) was en route to Washington from North Dakota to cast the 60th vote…

…Murkowski changed her vote after speaking to McCain and Susan Collins (R-ME), both of whom voted yes, on the floor. The Alaskan declined to talk to reporters afterward. Democrats expected her to vote yes but privately believe she was initially talked out of it.

“Lisa’s just a friend of mine and I thought we’d have a nice little chat about what we had for dinner last night,” Collins quipped, describing as “accurate” a reporter’s characterization that she rescued Murkowski as she was being ganged up on by Republican senators. “I was concerned that she was being pummeled by both sides.”

Supposedly, the vote is being held open until 7:30, by which time Sen. Heitkamp should have arrived and been able to cast the 60th vote. This is for the ATF director, not a lifetime appointment to the second most important court in the country.