Judicial Nominees

NPR has a question and answer session with NPR congressional correspondant Brian Naylor and Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving covering the  judicial nominees and the senate filibuster. From NPR:

Q: How many of President Bush's nominees have been kept waiting? How many have been confirmed?
The conflict has come at the next level, the appeals court level, which is the intermediary step between trial courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. President Bush has had 57 nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals. Five never received hearings. Of the 52 who did, 42 have been confirmed, but 10 were blocked by Democrats' use of the filibuster to prevent a floor vote. Three of these nominees subsequently withdrew from consideration, but seven others have returned for renomination in the current Congress. ....

Q: What's at stake with these nominations? Why are Democrats so opposed to these particular nominees?
Democrats say these nominees are not just conservatives, but radicals whose views are outside the mainstream on issues such as abortion rights, worker protection and the environment. ...[while] Republicans counter that these nominees have strong personal characteristics and outstanding records. ... Some Republicans warn Democrats that they risk being seen by the voters as obstructionist.

They point to the case of Tom Daschle, the former minority leader from South Dakota, who lost his Senate seat last year after having been labeled an obstructionist for his role in blocking 10 of Bush's appellate nominees (as well as in thwarting some of the president's policy initiatives). The GOP says that in Daschle's case, the obstructionist label stuck and contributed to his defeat by Republican John Thune.