WASHINGTON — Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) propelled the Senate toward a long-awaited confrontation over judges Wednesday, taking up the nomination of Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla R. Owen to the federal bench and declaring that she and other judicial nominees deserved an up-or-down vote.
The move was an important first step in the battle over the fate of the filibuster, which Democrats have used to block some of President Bush's judicial appointments. But the outcome also will carry serious implications for the future appointment of Supreme Court justices, as well as for Frist's political ambitions.
The chamber was sparsely filled -- with just half a dozen senators -- as Frist convened the session on Owen in his usual calm voice. But after months of escalating rhetoric on both sides, his words effectively rang the opening bell in the showdown between Senate Republicans and Democrats.
"I rise today as the leader of the majority party of the Senate," Frist said. "But I do not rise for party. I rise for principle. I rise for the principle that judicial nominees with the support of a majority of senators deserve up-or-down votes on this floor."
During Bush's first term, Democrats relied on the filibuster to block votes on 10 of his nominees to federal appellate courts, while allowing votes on about two dozen others. Earlier this year, Bush resubmitted seven of the blocked nominees, including Owen.
The fight over the filibuster is expected to last into next week, when Frist says he will launch a series of parliamentary maneuvers that Republicans hope will wrest the tactic away from the minority party.
The Democrats argue that though the filibuster is not mentioned in the Constitution, it is a long-established part of Senate tradition.
"Some in this chamber want to throw out 217 years of Senate history in the quest for absolute power," Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada said during Wednesday's debate. "They think they are wiser than our founding fathers. I doubt that's true."
The confrontation, long the focus of furious lobbying campaigns on both sides, played out through the day and into the night on the Senate floor as Republicans and Democrats took turns making their arguments on the filibuster.
Behind the scenes, a group of senators seeking to avert the showdown held a series of meetings aimed at finding a compromise.
