By Jim Abrams
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee, on a party-line vote Thursday, recommended seating on the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati a Michigan judge who was nominated 21/2 years ago for a federal appeals court.

The 10-9 vote by the majority GOP sends the nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Henry Saad to the full Senate, where it faces an uncertain future.

Democrats could threaten to filibuster the nomination, as they have done to stall or block votes on six of President Bush's more contentious judicial nominations.

The 6th Circuit Court hears cases from federal district courts in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Traditionally, each state has supplied four judges to the 16-member court, but owing to a political dispute going back to the Clinton administration, all four of the Michigan seats are empty.

Michigan's two Democratic senators, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, have blocked Saad's nomination in part because Republicans would not allow votes on two of President Clinton's nominees for the court.

The committee chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said this month the Michigan senators appeared willing to accept a compromise that would add two judges to the court and fill those openings with the stalled Clinton nominees.

Stabenow's office, however, said there was no agreement at this point.

Stabenow and Levin, in a joint statement, said the committee vote was "unfortunate" because it departed from a tradition of not voting on nominees unless both home-state senators approve.

They said they also felt that Saad's "judicial temperament falls below the standard expected of nominees to the second-highest court in the country."

Liberal advocacy groups have opposed Saad because of what they say is his conservative judicial record.

Saad's nomination could rekindle what has been a long-standing dispute between the Bush administration and Senate Democrats over judicial confirmations.