Maureen Dowd should be flattered

In an homage to Ms. Dowd's practice in attacking Republicans CBS correspondent Gloria Borger has quoted Ken Starr out of context, making his comments sound like an endorsement of the Democrats' use of the filibuster, when he was really talking about the obnoxious practices requiring a litmus test for judicial nominees, . (It used to be off-limits to ask a nominee how he/she would rule on a specific issue, because it should turn on the facts of the case. That was how it used to be, before the courts made themselves political by using judicial review to sweep away policies made by the policy-making branches of government.)

He's right about the current practice of requiring a nominee to promise he/she will vote a certain way on certain issues, but the solution is not to scold the Senate. It's the Supreme Court's problem and if I were a nominee all I'd say is that the courts should be more careful about allowing themselves to be used to obtain political goals. Almost any law can be targeted as a violation of someone's rights.