As expected, Republicans were able to block the nomination of Goodwin Liu to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the first time a Senate filibuster has derailed a judicial nominee of President Obama.
"The partisan filibuster of Goodwin Liu’s nomination is another example of Republicans’ shifting standards on judicial nominations," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But while Leahy denounced GOP Senators for the filibuster, he didn't take time to mention that he was one of 25 Democrats who voted to filibuster the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
One of those 25 Democrats who also voted to filibuster Alito was the junior Senator from Illinois, Sen. Barack Obama.
It was the first successful filibuster against a judicial nominee in six years, back when Democrats blocked ten different nominees of President George W. Bush.
That was back when Republicans argued that every nominee deserved an up-or-down vote, while Democrats talked about the importance of using the filibuster to block "extreme" choices by a President.
Yesterday, it was Republicans using the word "extreme" in describing Lui and explaining why they changed their position on a judicial filibuster.
"I have always said I would not vote to filibuster a judicial nominee unless extraordinary circumstances were involved," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), who was one of many Republicans that heatedly opposed Democratic filibusters in the Bush years.
Maybe the most interesting statement came from former Judiciary Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who denounced Liu in a statement on the Senate floor, saying that Liu has an "activist judicial philosophy."
But when it came time to vote, Hatch voted "Present" on the motion to invoke cloture and end the filibuster, as his office explained that he had previously agreed not to filibuster judicial nominations.
There's only one problem with that argument - voting "Present" on a cloture motion is the same as voting "No."
You need 60 "Yes" votes to break a filibuster - and it doesn't matter how many Senators vote "Present" or "No."
"Senators count on reporters and the public having short memories," wrote one of my followers on Twitter.
That is absolutely right when it comes to the filibuster.
