Ron Chernow, biographer of Alexander Hamilton, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times explaining what the Founders would think about filibustering judicial nominees.

Ron Chernow, biographer of Alexander Hamilton, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times explaining what the Founders would think about filibustering judicial nominees. He couldn't say exactly, of course, since the filibuster was not used until they had left politics. But he recounted the judicial wars of the Jefferson administration, which pitted the president and his allies against Chief Justice John Marshall. Marshall held the judiciary's critics at bay, establishing the courts as a potent, and in some cases, paramount branch of government. Is this, as Chernow concluded, what "the Framers intended"? Only if you believe that the courts have continued to reason with Marshall's discretion and intellectual force. If one branch of government becomes a binge drinker, it has to be dried out. That's why there are three branches, as the Framers intended.