California Senator Barbara Boxer opines on Supreme Court Nominee John Roberts in today’s SFGate/Chronicle. The single most important paragraph is thefinal one, where she says:

Justice O’Connor was a pivotal vote in protecting our rights. Her retirement from the Supreme Court has created, in and of itself, an extraordinary circumstance — one that places an equally extraordinary obligation on all of us to ensure that her successor honors her independence by continuing it.

Note the use of the keyword “extraordinary circumstance”–this is the phrase which triggers the exception to the “Gang of 14″‘s no-filibuster agreement. Plainly, Boxer is setting up a precedent for a fight if it becomes necessary. Not sure if I agree completely, but I appreciate how she’s doing it.