The Coalition of The Chillin’ was created in response to not only the filbuster deal created by the “Gang of 14” Senators, but also in response to the sky-is-falling positions from the right and left. In our collective, calm, cool, minds the deal simply pushed off the head-to-head ultimate battle to some time later. ] At the same time it allowed the logjam of appellate court nominees to proceed. Two nominations apparently did not survive (Saad and Meyer) but many others went through and changed the make up of the second most powerful court in the country – the DC appellate court.

In light of John Roberts nomination to replace Sandra Day O’Connor, the coalition is arising again to add their voices to the debate on the judicial nominations, filibusters and the ‘deal’ that is, in all likilihood, been a huge success for republicans – and not so much of a help to democrats.

So please enjoy this the Carnival of The Coalition of The Chillin’!

Note to coalition members: I simply listed these in the order I received them to retain my sanity and make sure everyone who submitted got mentioned. This also makes sense time-wise since many submissions were provided prior to the announcement and were predictions of what could happen. Thanks to all for your inputs!

Don Suber had the first post/prediction and what a brilliant prediction it was! Talk about your political selections.

UPDATE:

Somehow I missed Don’s email for his serious submission to the Carnival – my bad Don. So here is Don’s real entry on who the big winner was in all this! Got to go read it to find out.

END UPDATE

Pererro graces us with a rare political post predicting accurately no Gonzales, but inaccurately a possibly Mrs Roberts pick.

Paul Deignan at Info Theory has a very timely reminder on what it means to ‘interpret the constitution’, which not so surprisingly is found in the preamble.

Argan Argar decided to live blog the announcement, and was surprised at the late turn towards John Roberts! Fun to watch the shifts in opinion.

GOP and The City also had a dark horse prediction for the nominee that was…well,… Different! And meant to drive the left over the edge.

The Buzz Blog’s entry asks the probing question: can people who are chillin’ really mobilze? Beyond that it explores all the pre-announcement twists and turns.

Karl Maher of Vote for Judges has been promoting the idea of ending life time appointments for judges, and instead have them come up for some kind of periodic reconfirmation. A very provactive and interesting idea. Karl had recently suspended his site but honored me in allowing his entry to be posted on the Strate-Sphere.

Viking Pundit’s entry included many predictions (sadly all wrong), but one that should have been right (because anyone who writes a ‘devil may care’ opinion is right for the job, IMHO).

Semi Random Rumblings’ sees the Roberts pick as Bush picking a fight with the left – with an “I dare you” taunt that Bush has no intention of backing down from. And also an interest in how Hillary will react?

LiberalSmashMouth tests the response at Democrat Underground, and other outposts of the left, to get the measure of “Chimpy McHitlerburton’s” pick – and likes what he sees.

Citizen Grim comes in with a historical perspective on Bush’s nominee: The Dread Pirate Roberts. [why can’t I think up these kind of things??].

Pat at Brainster ponders on whether the gang of 14 will deliver on their promise to bring civility and decorum back into the Senate. And hopes we are done with all the tears….

Jeff at the Bernoulli Effect chides (rightfully so, IMHO) hispanics and women feeling under-represented on the USSC, and for even thinking the court was a representative body in the first place.

Jade Monkey shakes off the blogger’s cobwebs to produce some good predictions and to poke fun at Kennedy, et al, for wanting Bush to propose liberals just like them…Right. Not to mention some fun with Rehnquist.

We are glad to have Adam C from Redstate here to represent one of the premier sites addressing this issue (he is trying to convert the others to join the Coalition – honest!). Adam C predicts the oridinary nature of Roberts is his secret weapon with the Gang of 14 and the filibuster. Note the 154 comments that go with this post!

Our fearless instigator, Mark Coffey of Decision08, appropriately comes in with a post on how much the deal benefited the reps and how it actually may have hurt the left. And he also notes a solid source on what a Robertrs confirmation would mean to the USSC.

Maxedoutmamma’s entry points to the left’s mythology that, as a ‘rethuglican’, Roberts will destroy American (read liberal) values. And the hopelessness of republican desires for decorum and statesmanship in the coming weeks.

The Commissar notices the response from People For the American Way, and also notes some will be will be “anatomically” disappointed.

And finally my submission on how I think the process will pan out. Basically, the key players in the Gang of 14 have indicated there will be no filibuster, and therefore the confirmation should be straightforward – barring any late surprises.