As evidenced by the nomination of Roberts, the tactic Rove/Cheney has for putting right-wing justices on the Supreme Court, is to find reliable conservatives with no records to attack. Liberals were punching at a phantom with Roberts.
Democratic Senators, particularly those who are voting for Roberts, need to declare.
"Not again"
Rove/Cheney know that the only way the Democrats will get 40 votes to filibuster; or get the 6 Republican votes to defeat the next nominee, is if the nominee has a record of rejecting privacy rights to the point where it becomes clear that they would probably vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Right now, Rove-Cheney are probably surveying a small group of candidates with no record on privacy. Anyone with a notable decision indicating that they would overturn Roe v. Wade will not be considered. (If the truth be told, Rove-Cheney don't care if Roe v. Wade is overturned. Rove probably thinks it would hurt Republicans politically and Cheney only cares about getting Justices that will reject environmental laws to help the oil/gas business interests. Still Rove-Cheney need a nominee, like Roberts, who they can tell the religous conservatives "Don't worry. He's good for it.")
The only way for Democratic Senators to combat this is to say - in effect- "O.K. A thin reviewable record, has, historically, never been a criteria for rejecting a nominee. But after Roberts, we're making it one." They should make this case immediately, before the next nominee is named. Those voting for Roberts should say "Even if the nominee has great credentials, great judicial temperment and a perfect personal history, if they do not have a substantive record to review, that person will not be voted on [Do I hear the word 'filibuster'?]. I may give this President one 'thin-record' nominee because of historical 'stare decisis' but that game has been played out."