June 9 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate completed confirmation of a trio of President George W. Bush's disputed judicial nominees following a bipartisan deal that averted a confrontation over the Democrats' power to block appointments to the federal bench.

By a vote of 53-45, the Senate approved William H. Pryor Jr.'s nomination to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Atlanta. Bush gave Pryor a temporary appointment to the court last year after Democrats had used the filibuster, a parliamentary technique allowing unlimited debate, to shelve his nomination.

``There is a light at the end of the confirmation tunnel,'' Utah Republican Orrin Hatch said today during the Senate debate in Washington on Pryor's nomination. ``The confirmation ground has shifted.''

Pryor was among 10 appeals court nominees that Democrats blocked in Bush's first term. His nomination was cleared for a Senate vote in the deal negotiated May 23 by seven Republicans and seven Democrats. The agreement averted a showdown over Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist's effort to bar Democrats from using the filibuster against judicial nominees.

The deal guaranteed votes for Pryor and two other nominees who had been filibustered, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown. Brown was approved yesterday for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Owen was sworn in as a judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans following her Senate confirmation last month.

Embroiled in Dispute

The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Richard Griffin and David McKeague to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Cincinnati. Their appointments had been embroiled in a dispute over Republican efforts to block President Bill Clinton's appointments for those judicial seats.

``The seats were kept vacant because the majority hoped a Republican would be elected as president'' and Bush ignored requests to redress the ``acknowledged wrong,'' said Michigan Democrat Carl Levin.

Republicans had prevented confirmation hearings for more than 60 of Clinton's nominees. Levin noted that the Senate has confirmed 213 of the 218 judicial nominations made by Bush.

Floor Votes

Frist has pledged to press for floor votes on other appellate nominees that Bush has sent to the Senate. Still, he has ducked questions on when he plans to seek a Senate vote on William G. Myers III, a mining and ranching lobbyist whose nomination to the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco was blocked by Democrats.

Democrats argued that Pryor's temporary appeals court appointment was provocative and probably unconstitutional. ``To confirm Mr. Pryor now would validate the president's regrettable decision to defy the Senate,'' said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Republicans dismissed arguments that, as Alabama's attorney general, Pryor showed hostility to abortion and individual rights. Supporters noted that Pryor put aside personal views when he halted enforcement of a state law banning late-term abortions after the Supreme Court ruled such statutes unconstitutional.

``He is pro-life, he opposes partial-birth abortion,'' said Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander. ``He was pro-life, but the law said it was unconstitutional. He followed the law.''

Schiavo Case

Alexander said that, as a judge on the 11th Circuit, Pryor voted to ``reject further federal interference in the Terri Schiavo case,'' and joined a decision that thwarted efforts to keep the comatose woman alive by reinserting a feeding tube in her trachea. ``He might have had different personal views, but he followed the law,'' Alexander said.

Opponents cited Pryor's opposition to allowing state workers to sue for damages under a federal law that guarantees employees the right to family leave for medical emergencies. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected Pryor's position.

Massachusetts Democrat Edward M. Kennedy said, as Alabama attorney general, Pryor ``fought aggressively to undermine the power of Congress to protect individual and civil rights.''

``His many inflammatory statements show he lacks the temperament to serve on the court,'' said Kennedy, citing Pryor's description of the justices as ``nine octogenarian lawyers who happen to sit on the Supreme Court.''

Hatch cited support of Alabama Democrats such as Joe Reed, a state party official who wrote that ``all colors and races will get a fair shake'' from Pryor.

Reed's endorsement of Pryor is evidence that Democrats were ignoring the people who know the nominee and are ``persuaded by caricatures created by Washington-based lobbyists and left-wing groups that need to send out the next fundraising appeal,'' Hatch said.

Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, and Rhode Island Republican Lincoln Chafee voted against Pryor. They were among the 14 senators who signed the agreement on filibusters.

Two Democrats who helped negotiate the deal, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Ken Salazar of Colorado, voted for Pryor.

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

Last Updated: June 9, 2005 18:02 EDT