Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

I tried, but I couldn't say it any better than deacon at Powerline, who captioned his post "To Break the Stalemate Kick Some Ass." Deacon was commenting on Norman Ornstein's piffle in today's Washington Post. Ornstein argues that life tenure for the Article III judiciary was meant to insulate judges from politics and that this entire structure is broken. So far, so good. But Ornstein argues further that we should amend the Constitution to provide for a single 15-year term for federal judges, like what we have for the non-Article III judges on the Court of Federal Claims.

Deacon shreds this nonsense in a second: "I can just imagine Senator Leahy explaining to Nan Aron that she will only have to put up with Miguel Estrada for 15 years." But he is even more correct about the practicalities of the situation. With the addition of new Republican senators in the recent election, the potential vulnerability of some red-state Democrats, Bush's strength coming out of his re-election, and (I would add) Arlen Specter's partial neutering, why engage in the Republicans' favorite strategy of pre-emptive surrender?

We've got some big nomination battles coming up. Let's come out fighting.

One more thing: Go, Miguel!