National Review Online's Ed Whelan certainly has issued his share of odd arguments about judicial nominees. But this might just take the cake. In a blog post yesterday, Whelan argued that filibustering judicial nominations is “a bad practice,” but that this is precisely why Senate Republicans should filibuster the nomination of Goodwin Liu to be an appellate judge.

From Whelan's blog post:

I continue to hold the view that I've expressed since the outset of Bench Memos in 2004--that the filibuster of judicial nominees is constitutionally permissible but a bad practice. It's clear, however, that unilateral disarmament by Republicans would do nothing to deter Democrats from filibustering Republican nominees. As with the independent-counsel statute, the only sensible choice for Republican senators who want to get rid of the filibuster in the long run is to employ it against very bad judicial nominees by President Obama.

In sum, it's time for Republican senators to defeat cloture on the Liu nomination. [emphasis in the original]

By the way, Liu has been the subject of a concerted smear campaign by Whelan and others. And Senate Republicans are considering a filibuster of Liu even though many of the people leading the charge have argued -- unlike Whelan -- that filibusters are unconstitutional.