Republicans yesterday cleared the first of President Bush's blocked judicial nominees for a Senate vote after Easter, a move that Democrats say could lead to a filibuster confrontation that could shut down the chamber.
The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10 to 8 along party lines to send the nomination of former Interior Department counsel William G. Myers to the floor.
Although Republicans say Myers, a lawyer in Boise, Idaho, would make a good judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Democrats say he is too anti-environment.
Democrats blocked his nomination in the last Congress and vow to do the same this year.
Republicans have threatened to change the Senate rules to stop Democrats from blocking judicial nominees, a move Democrats have dubbed the "nuclear option" because they say it would blow up Senate relations.
