Judges

From today's Washington Post:

President Bush announced yesterday his intention to renominate 20 people previously blocked by Senate Democrats for federal court seats, setting the stage for a renewal of the bitter partisan battles over the makeup of the federal judiciary.

The president's list includes seven appeals court candidates whose nominations were stalled on the Senate floor by Democrats, who said the nominees' conservative views were out of the mainstream. The other nominations never made it to the full Senate. Buoyed by his reelection and a four-seat Republican gain in the Senate, Bush said he will submit the nominees' names when the Senate returns to work next month.

...

"The Senate has a constitutional obligation to vote up or down on a president's judicial nominees, and the president looks forward to working with the new Senate to ensure a well-functioning and independent judiciary," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. He said 16 of the 20 people being renominated have been waiting for more than a year for a vote.

Bush's nominations promise to rekindle the battles waged in the Senate over many of his judicial nominees. They will also provide a preview of the all-out fight expected when Bush makes an appointment to the Supreme Court.

During Bush's first term, Democrats would did not allow a vote on 10 of the 52 appointments he made to fill vacancies on federal appeals courts.

Note that the 10 judges referred to in the previous sentence are appeals court judges, i.e. the judges on the courts above the federal trial courts and just below the Supreme Court.  Appeals court judges had not been filibustered before the Daschle-run Senate in the 108th Congress, i.e. they received actual votes in the Senate, up or down.  That's why Daschle was called an obstructionist.