Final vote, per my earlier post, was 65-31.  Eight Republicans (Alexander, Collins, Gregg, Hatch, Lugar, Martinez, Snowe, Voinovich voted to close debate, along with every Democrat present (Kennedy and Byrd were too ill to attend).

The two on this list that I did not expect were Lamar Alexander and Orrin Hatch.  I suspect that they will vote against him once the Republicans’ current thirty hours of fake “discussion” and time-wasting quorum calls finally comes to a close, but that certainly is their right, and I give them credit for helping to end a filibuster that was more about show than principle.

There has been some sspeculation that Gregg, Martinez, and Voinovich voted in large part because they’re retiring, but I don’t think that’s entirely true.  Voinovich was a prominent critic of John Bolton (at least the first time around), and Koh has long and deep ties to Florida’s Cuban and Haitian communities as a result of his work on the pre-9/11 round of Guantanamo detentions.

As Dave Weigel notes, thirteen Republicans, including John McCain, voted against cloture even though they voted to confirm Koh as Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor back in 1998.

With luck, this will help break the logjam on current and future sub-Cabinet nominations.  The next test is Dawn Johnsen, who faces a tougher battle as a result of her past work for the National Abortion Rights Action League.  Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) already has made it clear he will oppose her, and Arlen Specter (Whatever Gets Me Elected-PA) has said that he will vote for cloture but against her nomination.

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