Capital Briefs

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* FILIBUSTERING AGAIN: Three days after cutting a deal to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees only in "extraordinary" circumstances, Senate Democrats began filibustering the nomination of John Bolton to be UN ambassador. On May 26, a cloture vote (which needs 60 votes) failed 56-42. All the Republicans voted for clôture except for Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), who missed the vote because of illness. Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu (La.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) voted with the Republicans. The Democrats' pretense for the filibuster: They want to see more documents related to Bolton's tenure at the State Department.

* EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD: Sen. George Voinovich (R.-Ohio), voice trembling, barely held back tears last Wednesday during a speech on the Senate floor attacking Bolton. The turncoat Republican, however, wasn't too emotional earlier last week when he penned a scathing letter to his Senate colleagues (see HumanEventsOnline.com) that criticized Bolton. "It is my concern that John Bolton's nomination sends a negative message to the world community and contradicts the President's efforts," wrote Voinovich In case he hasn't noticed, Bush doesn't agree.

* STEM CELL VETO: President Bush issued one of the clearest veto threats of his presidency on May 20, when he declared he would veto legislation pending in the House that would provide tax dollars to researchers who kill human embryos to take their stem cells.

"I made it very clear to the Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayers' money to promote science, which destroys life in order to save life is-I'm against that. And therefore, if the bill does that, I will veto it," said Bush. On May 24, the House went ahead and voted 238 to 194 to approve the bill sponsored by liberal Representatives Mike Castle (R.-Del.) and Diane DeGette (D.-Colo.).

* HARD ROADTO BIG EASY: As part of the McCain & Co.'s filibuster deal, long-stalled 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Priscilla Owen was assured swift Senate approval along with two other nominees-Janice Rogers Brown (D.C. Circuit) and William Pryor (11th Circuit).

Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice who was first nominated on May 9, 2001, and who endured four failed cloture votes in 2003, finally won Senate approval last Wednesday on party-line 55-to-43 vote. A day earlier, 17 Democrats and Sen. Jim Jeffords (I.-Vt.) had voted one last time against cloture on her nomination. Even some of Owen's harshest Democratic critics-Senators Pat Leahy (Vt.), Harry Reid (Nev.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), for example-voted for cloture. In all, 26 Democrats voted to end debate.

* WHAT ABOUT MYERS? Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter predicted in January he would be able to usher 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee William Myers through committee and to the floor with 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. Myers, however, was one of two Bush nominees explicitly sacrificed-4th Circuit nominee Henry Saad was the other-as part of McCain & Co.'s deal.

Myers's exclusion from the deal came as a surprise, considering he had the backing of liberal Sen. Joe Biden (D.Del.) during a July 20, 2004, cloture vote. The lack of a guaranteed vote for Myers didn't sit well with Republicans representing states that make up the 9th Circuit. "If the compromise brokers say Judges Owen and Brown meet the criteria, then Myers should fit the bill as well," said Sen. Conrad Burns (R.-Mont.). "So let's see whether this was all talk."

* INHOFE IS ANGRY: Conservative Sen. James Inhofe (R.-Okla.) was sharply critical of the seven Republicans who abandoned their party to cut the filibuster deal. Last Tuesday, he told HUMAN EVENTS: "I was in shock when I saw the agreement they made. This legitimized, for the first time, the filibustering of judicial nominees, lnhofe said Democrats are celebrating-publicly and privately-over the deal. As for his seven GOP colleagues, lnhofe said: "I'm having a hard time talking to them. Let me give you an example. I did some fund-raising calling to conservatives-16 calls this morning-as the chairman of the Senatorial Trust. Every last one of them was outraged about this."

* LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON? Sen. Mike DeWine (Ohio), one of the seven Republicans to make the filibuster deal, said he's not worried about negative reaction from conservatives. But what about DeWine's son, Pat, who is currently running for the U.S. House seat vacated by Rob Portman in Ohio's 2nd District? "I make my own decisions, and he certainly makes his own," the elder DeWine told HUMAN EVENTS. "You can look at some of his positions and you'll find they're very different from mine. But that's the way our kids are. They're very independent and I'm very proud of them for being independent." For the record, the younger DeWine has billed himself as conservative in the crowded June 14 GOP primary.

* GRAHAM UNDER FIRE: Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), another of the seven Republicans who made the filibuster deal, is feeling heat back home. In the 36 hours after the compromise was announced, according to South Carolina Republican Chairman Katon Dawson, party headquarters in Columbia was deluged with more than 900 phone calls blasting the senior senator for his role in the compromise. 'The calls won't quit, and they're almost all against Lindsey," Dawson told the State newspaper. Charleston businessman Thomas Ravenel announced he is seriously considering a primary challenge against Graham in 2008. "[Graham] is the third senator from New York," said Ravenel.