April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Two of U.S. President George W. Bush's judicial nominations that have been blocked by Democrats were approved by a U.S. Senate panel and sent to the Republican- controlled Senate for a floor vote.

Voting 10-8 along party lines, the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington cleared Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen and California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown. Democrats argued the nominees had injected political views into their judicial opinions.

Republican leaders are threatening to seek a rules change that would bar Democrats from using the parliamentary tactic of the filibuster to block votes on judicial nominees. Democrats, in turn, have said they may shut down Senate business if the rules are changed.

``The president wants to provoke a fight in the Senate'' by resubmitting the nominations, said Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, the panel's top Democrat.

Democrats blocked 10 of Bush's appeals-court nominees during the president's first term. Owen and Brown are among seven of those nominees Bush resubmitted in February. A third, Idaho lawyer William G. Myers III, was approved by the Judiciary Committee by a party-line vote last month.

Owen is nominated to a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington and Myers to the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco.

Breaking a Filibuster

Senate rules require 60 votes to break a filibuster and allow a vote on legislation or a nominee. Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist has threatened to seek a change, dubbed the ``nuclear option'' by lawmakers, to let a simple majority of 51 votes determine confirmation for judicial nominees. Republicans control the Senate by a 55-45 margin.

``The president's nominees require 60 votes to get confirmed whereas President (Bill) Clinton's nominees'' and those of ``every other president in the course of history required 51 votes,'' Texas Republican John Cornyn said at today's hearing. Republicans say the filibuster hasn't been used to block previous judicial nominees, an assertion that Democrats dispute.

A number of Republican senators including John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, John Warner of Virginia and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, have voiced concern about changing the rules.

Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a member of the Senate Republican leadership team, today told reporters she didn't know whether Frist has enough votes to win the rule change.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 21, 2005 12:52 EDT