The tiny excerpt below is only a small bit from a very nice article on DailyKOS explaining some key points about the fight over judicial nominees.

For example, the Federalist Papers are excerpted, arguing that the judiciary MUST be independent of the other two branches, or else we have the greatest threat to our liberty.

And the Senate’s role in approving of judges is different than the Senate’s role in approving of cabinet officials, lets say, because the President is actually appointing members of the third branch of government, an independent branch of government.

It’s an interesting read, and not too heavy.

Daily Kos :: Advice and Consent
95% of President Bush’s judicial nominees have been confirmed. Democrats have opposed the other 5% for sound reason. These percentages are at or above the historic confirmation rate of judicial nominees for all of our Presidents. Yet the GOP is affronted by any dissent to their rule, willing to trash 200 years of tradition and history and trigger the Frist “nuclear option.”

And make no mistake, there is no going back once this is done. The extreme, radical and destructive nature of this step cannot be overemphasized. We are at a precipice and the Republicans are certainly willing to take the country over the edge - unless a sufficient number of patriotic GOP Senators are willing to say no to the extremists in control of today’s Republican Party.