Eli is not exactly crying about Lucy getting kicked in the head yesterday. Still, as many have pointed out that while the Republicans were filibustering an awful lot of people, there is some value to it, and sometimes (see Bork, Robert who, btw was not filibustered but rather defeated in a straight vote, or, perhaps more recently Miguel Estrada who was) there is a value to it.
So Eli has a modest proposal, which, as all of Eli's simple and modest proposals, will be ignored. OTOH, what are blogs for. Give the minority leader a small number of cards to play, say four or five per year. When the minority leader decides it is important enough, why yes, that appointment does not come to a vote if there are forty supporters or more. Since such things are more often tactical than strategic, if say within a month the situation is resolved, the card is returned