Bush's choice.

Some quick points on the beginning of the process to confirm Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito:

The president does not need to get an up or down vote as it was shown that a few outside of congress were able to prevent it in the case of Mier.

The "gang of 14" that settled on the compromise earlier, will need to refrain from preventing a filibuster other than by their individual vote for cloture, if the Senate (both parties) was not consulted on the current nomination.

Given the power of outsiders to prevent a president's choice from even getting to a vote it also should be clear that any nominee should not be a "slam dunk" . More is likely later on a litmus test.