A win and a loss

From TPM we learn this:

Last September we flagged the White House nomination of E. Duncan Getchell, Jr., to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. He was opposed by both of his home state senators, Democrat Jim Webb and Republican John Warner, of Virginia, who were incensed that he was nominated over their objections.

Today, the White House withdrew his nomination.

From the New York Times, we learn this:

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department lawyer who wrote a series of classified legal opinions in 2005 authorizing harsh C.I.A. interrogation techniques was renominated by the White House on Wednesday to a senior department post, a move that was seen as a snub to Senate Democrats who have long opposed his appointment.

The lawyer, Steven G. Bradbury, who has run the department’s Office of Legal Counsel without Senate confirmation for more than two years, has been repeatedly nominated to the job of assistant attorney general for legal counsel.

But the earlier nominations stalled in the Senate because of a dispute with the Justice Department over its failure to provide Congress with copies of legal opinions on a variety of terrorism issues. Under Senate rules that place a time limit on nominations, Mr. Bradbury’s earlier nominations expired.

Undoubtedly, in their new-found spirit of bi-partisanship, the Democrats will now agree to confirm this nomination while they give the telecoms immunity and tell the president it's perfectly okay for his minions to ignore Congressional subpoenas.