Roll Call is reporting a deal on filibusters may be close with 6 senators on each side signing off on the deal and getting around Frist's obstruction. This article was reported in "How Appealing",
http://www.legalaffairs.org/howappealing/index.html
A bipartisan coalition of Senators believe it is close to a deal that would avert the looming showdown between Republicans and Democrats over judicial filibusters.
The potential deal, spearheaded by Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), would involve at least a half-dozen Senators from each party signing a letter or memorandum of understanding that signals how they would proceed to vote on all matters related to judicial nominations.
The six Senate Republicans would commit to opposing the so-called nuclear option to end judicial filibusters, which would leave GOP leaders short of the 50 votes they need to execute the parliamentary move to abolish the procedure.
In exchange, the six Senate Democrats would pledge to allow votes on four of the seven circuit court nominees who were already filibustered in the 108th Congress and have been renominated.
Perhaps more importantly, the six Democrats would pledge to vote for cloture to end filibuster attempts on all other judicial nominees named by President Bush, including Supreme Court picks, except in "extreme circumstances," according to a senior aide familiar with the discussions.
The aide familiar with the discussions declined to say which four circuit court nominees would be approved.
You can access the complete article at http://www.rollcall.com/pub/50_112/news/9183-1.html (subscription required).
This deal makes sense although I don't like the limitation which is, infact, aleready the deal since alll the fiolibustered judicial nominations are the top 5% extreme cases.