In a November 10 editorial, the New York Times said that Senate Democrats "should not be afraid to mount a filibuster, which Republicans would need 60 votes to overcome" to stop judicial nominees. When the Times says jump, Democrats ask how high.
Republicans should frame their response to Democratic filibusters as a question of freedom. The issue is whether the people should be able to run their own country through the officials they elect.
America’s founders fought a revolution over this principle. Without the rule of law, we have no freedom. Leftists will not be able to defend letting judges rather than voters run the country.
Second, Bush should re-submit the nominations left unapproved during the 107th Congress. That includes the appeals court nominations of Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen, who were rejected by Patrick Leahy’s Democrat-controlled Judiciary Committee. The Senate should quickly process and confirm these re-submitted nominees.
Third, Republicans should begin warning Americans of the tactics, including filibusters, to come. Public exposure may cause some Democrats to think twice.
Finally, Republicans must work more closely with activists. In an ideal world, appointing judges would not require massive grassroots campaigns, but it does today because judges have become too powerful and leftists want to capture the courts to short-circuit democracy.
http://www.humaneventsonline.com/articles/11-18-02/jipping.htm