As regular readers know, we've been following the nomination of Dawn Johnsen--Obama's chief-designate of the Office of Legal Counsel--ever since reports emerged that Republicans were contemplating filibustering the appointment.

Publicly, Republicans contend that one of their key objections to Johnsen's appointment is that she's a former NARAL employee and a staunch advocate of reproductive rights. But she's also unusually qualified for the position, having served at the OLC for five years during the Clinton administration, and her nomination comes against a backdrop of Republican anger over the possibility that the Department of Justice will declassify and release yet more damning torture memoranda. Johnsen was an outspoken critic of Bush administration policies and legal opinions used to justify them.

Along the same lines, Republicans are making a lot of noise about the nomination of Harold Koh to be the State Department's chief legal counsel. The stated grounds for their opposition are that Koh would be too deferential to international and foriegn laws. But Koh, like Johnsen, has been a strong critic of the Bush torture regime.

Johnsen's appointment has already been green lighted by the Senate Judiciary committee on a party-line 11-7 vote. Sen. Arlen Specter--the ranking member on that panel--has withheld judgment pending a personal meeting with her, and, with the Senate now in recess, Harry Reid's office confirms that no date has been set to weigh her nomination on the floor. (Koh's nomination is still pending before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, and a source there says it'll be a while before they get around to holding hearings.)

In any case, a filibuster or filibusters would be a pretty extraordinary move. Executive nominations are almost never filibustered by minority opposition in Congress.

Judicial nominations are a different but related matter. And it's worth recalling that, in 2005, when Democrats were filibustering Bush judicial nominations, Republicans threatened to change Senate rules to eliminate the use of the filibuster for judicial confirmation votes altogether. Ultimately, though, the so-called "Gang of 14" moderates--seven Democrats and seven Republicans--got together and reached an agreement whereby Republican dropped the "nuclear option" and Democrats agreed to limit filibusters to extraordinary nominations only.

Four of those seven Republicans--John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe--are still in office today. I've placed calls to all of their offices to see if they think the same principle should apply to Obama's executive nominees, and, relatedly, to ask whether widely respected figures like Johnsen and Koh amount, in their minds, to extraordinary choices.