Many thanks, Jon, for additional clarity on blue slips. I guess I’m less concerned about hypocrisy charges than you are, although I acknowledge that they surely don’t help. We only get so many historical opportunities to fix something important that is not working well, and what’s in front of us now is a chance to overhaul the nominations process so it works as it’s supposed to, with the nominees getting up-or-down votes (whether they are nominated by a Republican or a Democratic president), and the system having the kind of transparency and accountability that it ought to have.

I don’t think it would be a good idea to institutionalize a rule you and I both agree is not desirable, even it were done as part of an admirable olive branch that concedes, as we should concede, that our side has not always been exemplary. Going forward, I think a lot of things are going to have to change — including nominations getting killed in committee, something both parties have engaged in. Those sins are not in the same league as the systematic filibuster of the last several years, but they are bad and we ought to get rid of all of them. I agree with you that everyone ought to get an up-or-down vote, and I think for public consumption that it’s a clear, understandable position that has the virtue of being right.