Our newest Federal Judge is Janice Rogers Brown. She is not a liberal. She has said in speeches that "In the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery", and that "We no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it."

One can't help but wonder what, say, Harriet Tubman, who had the same color skin as Judge Brown, would think of a recognized professional black female attorney giving speeches to this effect to the white males in the Federalist society.

Judge Brown was confirmed as per Harry Reid's deal, which was praised widely in the left blogsphere for preserving the filibuster on judicial nominations. And so the filibuster is still available -- in extraordinary circumstances. It's just that the nomination of a judge with views like Brown's appears not to be an extraordinary circumstance.

But if an extraordinary circumstance ever does come along, the filibuster is still there. That's good to know.