Senate Democrats have made good on their deal with Republicans to release from committee another set of judicial nominations, breaking a bitter impasse that had divided the Senate in recent weeks.

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended a floor vote for District Court nominees Mark Davis for the eastern district of Virginia, David Gregory Kays for the western district of Missouri and Stephen Limbaugh for the eastern district of Missouri.

Last week, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) brokered a deal on judicial nominations that would allow some long-vacated judicial slots to be filled. Republicans had argued for weeks that Democrats were playing unfair politics with the judicial nominations.

On the other hand, Democrats argued that many of the nominations submitted by President Bush were controversial. For weeks, they were unwilling to hold hearings on the judicial nominations.

Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has scheduled a May 1 hearing on three more judicial nominations.

“Today the committee furthered its progress in reducing judicial vacancies across the country,” Leahy said. “While some Senators would like to engage in a back and forth about confirming a handful of controversial nominations, I remain committed to making progress where we can before time runs out in this presidential election year.”