This Time, It's Personal.

It was, on the whole, an unusual display of Democratic solidarity. On April 27, all nine Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee--backed, according to ranking member Patrick Leahy, by the entire Democratic caucus--signed a letter to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales regarding George W. Bush's proposed nominations to the federal bench. "We are not going to be rolled over," promised New York's Charles Schumer, who called the letter a "shot across the bow" The confirmation process, warned Leahy, "may grind to a screeching halt."

But not ...