By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Washington
A small group of US Senators has reached a last-minute deal to avoid a major political showdown in Congress.
The Democrats and Republicans have been increasingly at odds over President George W Bush's judicial nominations.
The agreement averts a threat to change one of the US Senate's most cherished traditions - use of the filibuster. Any Senator can single-handedly block a vote by using the so-called filibuster, whereby a politician literally blocks debate by constantly talking.
A filibuster can only be broken by a two-thirds majority, which is more votes than the ruling Republican party has. So they threatened to abolish this rule, overturning a centuries-old tradition. In practice this is about the people President Bush has chosen to fill federal court vacancies. The judges have the support of the Republicans but they have been criticised for being too right-wing by Democrats.
Now the Democrats have agreed that most of these judges will be given a simple majority vote, though they reserve the right to filibuster in extraordinary cir stances.