Filibustering Judges

Last Congress, the Democratic minority broke more than 200 years of Senate tradition and began filibustering President Bush's federal appeals court nominees. Though these judges had majority support among senators, the Democrats used the filibuster to keep them from getting an up or down vote. Why? Not because judges such as Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown are unqualified. They are well-qualified, as the American Bar Association has noted. The real reason is that the radical Left interest groups that run the Democratic Party–such as NARAL Pro-Choice America–are unalterably opposed to jurists who interpret the Constitution rather than legislating the latest liberal fads from the bench. The Democrats can't let conservative judges make it to the appeals court level. They know this is where Supreme Court judges come from, and with several vacancies at the high court likely in the near future, they will break every rule and twist the meaning of "advice and consent" beyond recognition. The Democrats, who keep losing elections, want to retain the only lever on power they have left: the judiciary. That's why they are ready to shut down the Senate. If we want rule by the people rather than rule by judges, we have to stare them down.