[JURIST] Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [official website] on Thursday offered Democrats a compromise [Frist press release] over judicial nominees that would allow appellate court nominations to be voted on but would retain the filibuster for district court nominees. Under the offer, the Senate would be limited to 100 hours of debate on appeals court judicial nominees before they would be confirmed, and nominations would no longer be subject to being blocked in the Senate Judiciary Committee [official website]. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid [official website] said he would consider the offer, although he did not seem favorable to it. Reid made an offer earlier this week that would have allowed certain nominations but not others to proceed, but it was rejected by Frist [JURIST report]. Democrats filibustered 10 of President Bush's appeals court nominees, and they have threatened to again block the seven of those that Bush renominated as well as future nominees that they view as too extreme. The Senate standoff over judicial nominations [JURIST news archive] has escalated in the past week after several of those nominees were approved in committee [JURIST report] and are now pending before the full Senate. AP has more.