Mark: So you think that we would have to accept any left-wing justice President Clinton saw fit to nominate who could get 51 votes? Why exactly? It’s a real stretch from “advice and consent” to a ban on requiring supermajorities to end debates–the sort of stretch that most conservatives would reject in other contexts and circumstances. As for your view that liberals could muster 40 votes to filibuster Bush’s nominees to the bitter end: Let’s keep in mind that the Democrats were unable to mount a filibuster of John Ashcroft for Attorney General when the Left wanted them to–and that was 6 Democratic senators ago.