''We cannot stop with this single step," Senate majority leader Bill Frist said in a written statement soon after the vote. The Tennessee Republican resurrected a threat to strip Democrats of their right to filibuster Bush's picks for the nation's highest courts if they violate the two-day-old accord.
''We must give fair up-or-down votes to other previously blocked nominees. It is the only way to close this miserable and unprecedented chapter in Senate history," he said.
Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said he was ''ready to put all this behind us and move on."
''I would hope the president would move on," he added later at a news conference in which Democratic leaders urged renewed attention to the economy, healthcare, defense, and other issues.
Frist told reporters he intended to seek votes early next month for Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor, two other nominees long blocked by Democrats but now protected by Monday night's bipartisan agreement.
In addition, Frist said he would press for votes on the nominations of William Myers and Henry Saad -- two of the president's selections who were not guaranteed final votes in the centrists' deal.
Republican officials also said they expected Frist to push for votes on Brett Kavanaugh and William Haynes. Both are appeals court nominees strongly opposed by Democrats and have yet to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Beyond that, there is a widespread expectation that one or more Supreme Court vacancies will occur in the coming months, any one of which has the potential to reignite partisan warfare over the future of the judiciary.
Reid sounded less than eager to continue debating judicial nominees opposed by many senators in his party as well as independent groups aligned with his party.
The final debate over Owen's nomination was without suspense following Monday's 81-to-18 vote to advance her nomination to the brink of confirmation.
