You apparently don't understand what a fillibuster is. The Democrats were doing the fillibustering. That's how they blocked a number of Bush court appointments. Under Senate rules, a minority can prevent something from being voted on. They can refuse to end debate on something and therefore a vote is never taken.
YOU FILLIBUSTER WHEN THE VOTES ARE THERE TO PASS SOMETHING. Like drilling in Alaska. Or ending the death tax. If the votes aren't there, there's no need to fillibuster.
You need 60 votes to stop a fillibuster. There were not 60 Republicans in the Senate. How do you not know this stuff? Yeesh.