The deal struck by the Gang of 14 senators last week doesn’t resolve the conflict over the judicial filibuster. But it does delay the showdown until President Bush gets an opportunity to appoint a justice to the Supreme Court.

That’s good enough for now.

The parliamentary fighting had left Congress in a state of virtual frozen animation. Things were still happening, there was still life on some level, but nothing was getting done. The fighting was sucking all of the oxygen out of the city, pushing everything else to the back burner.

Partisans on both sides of the issue have claimed defeat. Some have reacted angrily, especially among conservatives angry with the seven Republicans who worked with seven Democrats to end the immediate conflict. They’ve been called traitors, had their credentials questioned and been threatened with electoral retaliation.

Such reaction is proof of the political courage it took to reach across the aisle, to hunker down with members of the opposing party and work out a compromise built on trust.

Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins were important players in the negotiations. Time and again, they have shown themselves willing to buck their own party, to take political chances to push forward with pragmatic policy initiatives. Their willingness to work with Democrats in the past, we believe, was an essential element in crafting a deal that requires all parties to stay true to their word.

The language of the compromise is sketchy. It’s not at all clear – purposefully so, we’re told – what would qualify as the extraordinary circumstances that would allow Democratic participants to support a filibuster of a judicial nomination. Nor is it clear what will happen to the judges awaiting confirmation that were not specifically mentioned.

Nonetheless, the deal moves the Senate forward. It allows at least some of the president’s nominees to get an up-or-down vote and it keeps the rules and precedents of the Senate intact at least for a little while. The Gang of 14 have illustrated that, in a highly polarized Congress, people who are able to build ad hoc, bipartisan coalitions around specific issues can be successful.