But in the full Senate, even though the Republicans have a slim majority, the Democrats have been able to block several nominees by using a filibuster.

As the new majority party, the Senate Democrats easily blocked several conservative appellate judicial nominees during the 110th Congress using traditional methods.

There is a centuries-old Senate tradition that a minority can use the filibuster to block legislation or nominees.

In addition, the senators in the group agreed not to block future judicial nominees with filibusters except in cases involving "extraordinary circumstances".

As the new Senate majority, the Democrats easily blocked several conservative appellate judicial nominees without resorting to the filibuster.

A group of Senators is using the filibuster delay tactic to block federal judicial nominees from a simple "yes" or "no" vote.

The disagreement has also been over a custom in which senators can sometimes block nominees for judgeships from their home states.

In most cases, senators are now able to block nominees only for Federal District Courts, which conduct trials, in their home states.

Although Republicans control the Senate, their majority is slim, allowing Democrats to use filibusters to block nominees they find most objectionable.

As parties in Congress have become more polarized, they have increasingly used tools to hinder the executive agenda and aggressively block nominees.