Senate Democrats hauled out their filibuster for the seventh time to block a Bush nominee from a fair floor vote for confirmation, this time unhappy with the nominee's environmental record. William Myers is the latest nominee sent packing by the Democrats, who this time didn't even bother arguing that Myers would endanger the Constitution, their heretofore consistent argument against Bush nominees:

The vote on Myers, who was accused by Democrats of hostility to environmental causes, was 53 to 44, seven short of the 60 needed to force action on his nomination to the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. He was the seventh Bush choice for the federal bench to be stopped by a Democratic filibuster. ...

The vote was less about Myers than "a reflection of special interest group disdain for policies favored by farmers, ranchers, miners, the Bush Interior Department or anyone else who advocates balanced uses of western lands," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah).

Previous filibusters have centered around Constitutional issues regarding abortion rights, equal protection, and free-speech decisions or opinions cited by Democrats in their unprecedented use of filibustering nominations. This time, the issues were nakedly partisan and strictly political. Such a display of naked politicization of the judicial nomination process should shame the Democrats, who have turned this session into the most radical Senatorial opposition to any American executive in the history of our nation, excluding the Civil War. It's now quite clear that Democrats will never allow any nominee to pass through the Senate until they subject him or her to policy litmus tests -- an abhorrent and corrupting practice which forces judicial nominees into the unethical position of committing to ruling in certain ways before ever hearing a case.

Is this what the Democrats think of an independent judiciary?

Fortunately, in November, we have the opportunity to correct this perversion of the Constitution. Identify those Democratic Senators who are up for re-election, like Tom Daschle, Barbara Boxer, and others, and help their opponents unseat them. You can find links to the requisite sites through Hugh Hewitt's website.

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