Filibuster education thread.

Please explain how this plays out in laymans terms.

Here's my questions:
Frist changes the rules, but the Dems can still tie up Senate business, I believe, by constantly introducing new bills. I'm not sure what rule is in effect here; The majority party can't control the introduction of bills? All bills are allowed at least a minimum of debate?

In any case, if the Dems can tie up all non-essential business even without the filibuster, the judicial nominees don't get through anyway. We win, right?

Does Frist then try to change the rule that allows the minority party to tie up business?

Why should we "save" anything for the potential Supreme Court appointment? What do we gain by not fighting now?

------quote
Since 1981, Republican presidents have filled 94 of the 179 seats on the increasingly powerful circuit courts. Democrat Bill Clinton filled 65.

“The Supreme Court has taken fewer cases each year, and that leaves a lot of these hot cases unresolved,” says Abner Mikva, retired chief judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

One recent headline-making example: the case of Terri Schiavo. The high court refused to hear the final appeal of the brain-damaged woman's parents, which meant the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court's decision not to reconnect her feeding tube was final.

Last year, 62,762 cases were filed in federal appellate courts, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That's an increase of 330% since 1977. The Supreme Court, by contrast, issued 73 opinions, down from about 150 a year during the 1980s.

------end quote...

The Federal circuits in the last 20 years have become s important. If we lose this one we are in deep poo-poo.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20050517/1a_lede17.art.htm

I guess I'm trying to figure out what some Dems hope to gain by compromising. I can understand the gravity of changing the rule, but it's the Repubs threatening to do it. What are the Dems afraid of?

I have heard some say that we should save our firepower for an upcoming Supreme confrontation, but I don't understand what will be different then, or how saving ourselves makes it more likely we can win.