WASHINGTON, June 9 - With the confirmation Thursday of William H. Pryor Jr. and two other less contentious Bush administration nominees to federal appeals courts, the Senate completed the easy phase of its tenuous compromise on judicial candidates. It gets trickier from here.
Members of both parties acknowledge that the Senate is heading into the unknown now that the three candidates assured floor votes under the unusual judicial compromise - Mr. Pryor, Janice Rogers Brown and Priscilla R. Owen - have gone on to the bench after years of filibusters. Two other disputed nominations remain unresolved, and others are on deck in addition to the real possibility of a Supreme Court vacancy.
"We are moving into 'here there be dragons' territory," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, referring to the uncertainties and potential dangers for both parties that lie in the unexplored Senate waters ahead.
Since the deal was first struck late last month, Democrats have hailed it as a courageous breakthrough that averted a parliamentary crisis while dealing Senate Republicans a deserved reprimand for their push against the filibuster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/10/politics/10assess.html?