And yet, today a Senate minority is using the filibuster to prevent a vote on highly qualified judges, like Bill Pryor or Miguel Estrada, an able Hispanic lawyer who was nominated and had to be withdrawn, and Janice Brown, an African-American judge from California. And the grounds for opposition is not what the constitutional framers intended; it?s ideological. They just do not like what these judges believe.

This filibuster should offend us for another reason. America?s founders, informed by their Christian understanding of the Fall, provided for a system of checks and balances so that no one branch of government would have power over the other. But today a minority in the Congress is holding hostage judges named to the court. This is a fundamental assault on an independent judiciary and, thus, a violation of the balance of powers.

The Senate is debating this week whether to change its rules so that a simple majority could confirm a judge. That would prevent nominees from being filibustered. This is the only way we will have judges who interpret the law instead of making it up.

Please pick up your phone and call your senators: Jam the Capitol switchboard. The rules must be changed to avoid the hijacking of the Constitution. And then, ask your neighbors to do the same. Let them know that the ?unfit characters? Hamilton described two centuries ago are not President Bush?s nominees, but those who are trying to upend the Constitution.

Take action:

Please call your two senators (202-224-3121) and ask them to change the Senate rules so that a simple majority would be necessary to confirm a judge: Tell them to end the filibuster now.

For further reading and information:

Subscribe today to BreakPoint WorldView magazine. Call 1-877-322-5527.

Read ? Federalist Paper 76: The Appointing Power of the Executive.?

Tony Perkins, ? Justice Sunday: Stop the Filibuster against People of Faith,? Family Research Council, April 2005.

BreakPoint Commentary No. 030313, ? Talking Nonsense: The Senate Filibuster.?

BreakPoint Commentary No. 031120, ? Congress and the Courts: Restoring the Constitutional Balance.?