WASHINGTON – Democratic senators yesterday said they had scored a victory with a bipartisan compromise that preserves the minority party’s right to filibuster judicial nominations. Senator Schumer called the deal a “shot across the bow,” warning President Bush to consult more frequently with senators over his judicial appointments.

The president declined to characterize the agreement as a victory for his nominees, calling it merely “progress” toward confirmation. He welcomed Justice Priscilla Owen to the Oval Office, underscoring that the immediate effect of the compromise is to give her nomination – and those of two other judges labeled unacceptable by Democrats – an up or down vote in the Senate.

The Senate voted 81-18 to advance Justice Owen’s nomination to a vote. Senators are expected to vote today on her nomination to the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Mr. Bush praised the majority leader, Senator Frist of Tennessee, for his leadership, despite some criticism that he failed to amass sufficient votes to take away the Democrats’ ability to block nominations.

“Thanks to the good work of the leader, whose work cleared the way, Judge Owen is finally going to get an up or down vote on the Senate floor. She is my friend, and more importantly, she’s a great judge,” Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Schumer, who had been at the forefront of blocking nominees but was not involved in the compromise negotiations, said the agreement pulled the Senate back “from the precipice of breakdown.”

“Armageddon had been averted, and thank God. The nuclear option is off the table and the checks and balances that have been an intrinsic part of the Senate for over 200 years have been preserved,” he said.

In a letter to the president yesterday, Mr. Schumer emphasized that that the deal reached by 14 senators from both parties included language urging the executive branch to consult with senators of both parties before putting forth a nominee to the federal courts.

The agreement is a “shot across the bow to the president – Don’t pick someone too extreme or you’ll run into trouble,” Mr. Schumer said in a press release accompanying his letter.

A spokesman for Senator Clinton said she had no comment on the compromise yesterday.

The minority leader, Senator Reid, a Democrat of Nevada, called the agreement a “victory for democracy,” while the majority leader said it makes only “modest progress.”

The compromise does not guarantee up or down votes on judicial nominees, Mr. Frist said, but it will make future filibusters of judicial nominees, including Supreme Court nominees, “almost impossible.” Mr. Frist added that he would “not hesitate” to revive the option of changing Senate rules “if necessary.”

The compromise clears the way for confirmation votes on three hitherto blocked judges – Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, and William Pryor. In exchange, Republicans agreed to preserve the ability of Democrats to invoke the filibuster against judicial nominees in unspecified “extraordinary circumstances.” Still facing filibuster or withdrawal are nominees William Myers and Henry Saad.

Senator Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts, another staunch opponent of the president’s nominees who also did not participate in the negotiations, said Democrats had “succeeded” and that “moderation and reason have prevailed.”

Mr. Kennedy also interpreted the agreement as a warning to the president that, “If he wants to gets his judicial nominees confirmed, his selections need to have broad support from the American people.”

But conservatives said the compromise undermined the credibility of senators such as Messrs. Schumer and Kennedy in pronouncing judges to be out of the mainstream.

“The Democrats have egg on their faces too – particularly Schumer and other filibuster leaders,” said the director of the center for legal and judicial studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Todd Gaziano.

“They swore up and down that there was some great principle that Owen and Pryor should never receive a vote, and now they are going to receive a vote. Their Democratic colleagues have betrayed the truth that this label of ‘extremist’ was a lie,” he said.

Reaction among activist groups on both sides of the issue ranged from disappointment to calls for revenge.

“We are very disappointed with the decision to move these extremist nominees one step closer to confirmation,” the liberal group Alliance for Justice said in a statement.

The president of the People for the American Way, Ralph Neas, said he could not endorse the deal and that he was “deeply concerned” that it could lead to the “confirmation of appeals court judges who would undermine Americans’ rights and freedoms.”

Republican senators who participated in the compromise came under particular attack from conservative activists.

The chairman of the conservative group Focus on the Family, James Dobson, called the deal a “betrayal by a cabal of Republicans and a great victory for united Democrats.”

The chairman of the National Coalition to End Judicial Filibusters, Manuel Miranda, a former aide to Mr. Frist, called the compromise a shameful deal that diminished the power of the presidency. “The biggest losers are the Republican centrists who showed a complete disconnect with their constituents,” he said, adding that voters would remember their actions.

The “memorandum of understanding” was signed by Republican Senators McCain of Arizona, Warner of Virginia, Graham of South Carolina, DeWine of Ohio, Collins and Snowe of Maine, and Chafee of Rhode Island. The Democratic participants were Senators Nelson of Nebraska, Byrd of West Virginia, Lieberman of Connecticut, Pryor of Arkansas, Landrieu of Louisiana, Salazar of Colorado, and Inouye of Hawaii.

The precise meaning of just what “extraordinary circumstances” could warrant filibusters quickly became the subject of debate yesterday.

The executive director of the Committee for Justice, a group that advocates for the president’s nominees, Sean Rushton, said that by allowing the votes on the previously blocked judges, Democrats have set a precedent indicating “that conservative judicial philosophy cannot be considered the basis for a filibuster” or an “extraordinary circumstance.”

The president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the nation’s leading advocate for abortion rights, Nancy Keenan, said she was “confident” that exceptional circumstances would include “a Supreme Court nominee who won’t even state a position on Roe v.Wade.”

Mr. Frist’s comments suggested that whatever its terms, the truce was fragile.

“I will continue to fight for other qualified nominees who have been waiting for votes and deserve the same courtesy and fairness,” he said.