WASHINGTON – A Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday he believes Judge Samuel Alito Jr. will get an up-or-down vote on his Supreme Court bid.

“We should commit,” said Senator Biden, a Democrat of Delaware, minimizing prospects of a Senate filibuster that would prevent final action on President Bush’s choice to replace retiring Justice O’Connor.

“I think the probability is that will happen,” Mr. Biden said on ABC’s “This Week.” Mr. Bush last week selected Judge Alito, a former Reagan administration lawyer who is currently a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, after White House counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination amid withering criticism from conservatives.

Judge Alito’s confirmation hearings begin in the committee on January 9. Some Democrats have raised the prospect of a filibuster until they get a fuller sense of his views on abortion and other social issues on which Justice O’Connor has been a swing vote.

Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona, and one of 14 centrists who averted a Senate breakdown over judicial nominees last spring, said most members of the centrist group are “favorably disposed” toward Judge Alito.

The Democrats “are making up their minds and waiting for the hearings which is entirely appropriate … but so far I have not seen any significant concern that might lead to the filibuster,” Mr. McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.”