WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines yesterday to recommend the confirmation of Samuel A. Alito Jr. as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. That moves the controversial nomination to the Senate floor, where Republicans hope to hold a final vote before the end of the week.

The 10-8 committee vote came after one last bout of partisan jousting, with Democrats claiming that President Bush forced their hand by nominating Judge Alito to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Republicans accusing Democrats of holding the federal appeals court judge from New Jersey to a different standard than was used to evaluate past nominees.

Republicans also used their statements before the vote to warn Democrats that their treatment of Judge Alito -- which Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, compared to poking a pinata -- would come back to haunt them when a future Democratic president nominated a liberal judge to the high court.

"So I say to my Democratic friends: Think carefully about what is being done today," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. "Its impact will be felt well beyond this particular nominee."

Although not every committee Democrat had formally announced opposition to Judge Alito before yesterday's meeting, the partisan handwriting was on the wall when Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., delivered the first statement of the day.

"I am personally sorry to see a party-line vote out of this committee, and perhaps very close to a party-line vote out of the full Senate, but we all have our points of view," Mr. Specter said in resigned tones, as he concluded his speech endorsing Judge Alito.

But Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the panel's ranking Democrat, put the blame on the Bush administration for nominating Judge Alito rather than one of the "many, many, many people in this country who would have had from 90 to 100 votes in the Senate."

Noting that he had voted for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Mr. Leahy said: "The president is in the midst of a radical realignment of the powers of the government and its intrusiveness into the private lives of Americans, and I believe this nomination is part of that plan."

In general, Republicans used their statements to praise Judge Alito's 15 years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia, on his academic qualifications and his "well-qualified" rating from the American Bar Association and on the praise he has received from former law clerks and colleagues, including seven current and former 3^rd Circuit judges who testified before the committee.

"We can judge a man by his record," said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio. "We can judge him by his judicial philosophy. But, really, there is no better judge of a man than those who really know him best."

Democrats offered arguments familiar from the panel's hearings: that Judge Alito in his appeals court rulings disproportionately sided with government and against the "little guy," that he would defer too much to presidential authority in the war on terror and that his decisions showed a pattern of insensitivity to claims of racial and gender discrimination.

"All public officials -- including judges, in my view -- must understand prejudice still lurks in the shadows," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., "and my examination of [Judge] Alito's record demonstrates to me that he does not look into the shadows."

Abortion, which had loomed large in much of the questioning of Judge Alito, figured in several speeches by Democrats yesterday.

"If one is pro-choice in this day and age, in this structure, one can't vote for Judge Alito," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

"I really do worry we're going to take the Supreme Court nomination process and boil it down to abortion," countered Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Mr. Specter, an abortion-rights supporter, reiterated his view that Judge Alito "went as far as he could go" in stressing the importance of precedent -- suggesting that he wouldn't overturn existing abortion law.

As Judiciary Committee Democrats were unanimously voting against Judge Alito, two prominent Democrats in Pennsylvania endorsed his candidacy.

Gov. Ed Rendell -- whose wife, Marjorie, has been serving alongside Judge Alito on the 3rd Circuit -- told an interviewer that the nominee passed the tests of fairness, integrity, a good legal record and the right academic background. "He would not have been my pick by any means, but he deserves confirmation," the governor said.

Meanwhile, state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., the front-runner for the Democratic nomination to oppose Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., issued a statement saying: "The arguments against Judge Alito do not rise to the level that would require a vote denying him a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Based on this analysis, if I were in the Senate today, I would vote to confirm him."