GOP Begins 'Nuclear' Countdown

Majority Republicans set a test vote for Tuesday on the appeals court nomination of Priscilla Owen as the Senate edged one step closer to a showdown over President Bush's stalled judicial nominees and the fate of filibuster rules.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, acted on behalf of Majority Leader Bill Frist Friday in scheduling the procedural vote after Democrats twice refused to fix a time for a final vote on Owen's confirmation to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The choreographed maneuver unfolded as the Senate concluded a third straight day of debate over Owen, a Texas Supreme Court nominee whom Democrats argue is outside the judicial mainstream.

Under the Senate's filibuster rules, Owen's backers need 60 votes to prevail next Tuesday. Barring an agreement on a compromise in the interim, they are expected to fall short.

That, in turn, is expected to prompt Frist to seek a vote on his call for a ban on filibusters on appeals court and Supreme Court nominees – a change in Senate rules that has been labeled the "nuclear option."

Owen is one of 10 appeals court nominees whom Democrats blocked during Bush's first term. The president has since renominated seven of them, and Democrats have again vowed to filibuster.

"If we were just permitted to cast a vote, a bipartisan majority would confirm these nominees today," Cornyn said. "This really amounts to a veto. A partisan minority has attempted to cast a veto of majority rights, bipartisan majority rights."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., countered: "This extralegal changing of the Senate rules will cause a permanent tear in the Senate fabric because it violates a deeply held American value playing by the rules."

"Using an arbitrary way – presiding officer ruling by fiat – will produce a deeply embittered and divided Senate because it tears at the heart of the way we operate," Levin said.

With the showdown looming, a group of compromise-minded senators is working on a potential agreement that could clear the way for confirmation of many of Mr. Bush's stalled judicial nominees, scuttle some and preserve existing filibuster rules. Their talks are scheduled to resume on Monday.By agreeing among themselves, any six Republicans and six Democrats would hold the Senate's balance of power, making it impossible for Frist to engineer a change in procedures on one hand, and dooming future filibusters on the other.

One area under discussion involved which of Mr. Bush's nominees would be cleared for confirmation and which would continue to be held up. Under discussion when the day began was a plan to allow final votes on Owen, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown and former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor, as well as Michigan nominees Susan Neilson, Richard Griffin and David McKeague.

The nominations of William G. Myers and Henry Saad would remain stuck.

Two of the Senate's elder statesmen, Republican John Warner of Virginia and Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia, were trying to craft language on another part involving an exchange of "good faith" pledges by lawmakers.

Democrats would agree not to filibuster future appeals court or Supreme Court nominees except in extraordinary cases. Republicans would agree not to support any changes in the filibuster procedures, although it was unclear what circumstances, if any, would permit them to change their minds.

Warner, as he went in and out of meetings in the office of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., refused to talk to reporters. But Byrd acknowledged he was working with Warner and said their language could be the "nuclear shield."

"It might prevent the nuclear option from ever being detonated," said Byrd, the chamber's most senior senator.

Byrd also suggested he and Warner were working on language where the president would pick his court nominees from a pool of suggested candidates "possibly selected on the basis of discussions with state and federal chief justices, lawyers, people from academia and so forth."

The day's developments unfolded after Sen. Rick Santorum issued a statement saying he "meant no offense" when he invoked the name of Adolf Hitler in remarks Thursday that defending the GOP's right to ban judicial filibusters.