In a sharp rebuke to the Democratic base, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Leslie Southwick to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after 12 Democrats, together with one Independent, shrugged off the strong opposition of their party’s leaders and joined a united Republican Conference.

The vote buoyed a Senate GOP conference that has been dogged by scandals and put on the defensive over Iraq, and it marked the first of two GOP victories on the day. Shortly after Southwick was confirmed, Republicans blocked Democratic-led efforts to help children of undocumented immigrants attend college, likely putting the nail in the coffin of any targeted approaches to help the nation’s 12 million illegal immigrants win legal status.

“So, this is — you know, it’s emotional for me,” said Lott, who had been working for months behind the scenes to secure support for the judge from his home state of Mississippi. “Because this is a good man. He’ll make a great judge. And on behalf of my state, which I feel has been maligned in this and other instances, we appreciate you.”

In a 62-35 vote, the Senate by a two-vote margin broke off a filibuster that threatened to derail the most contentious judicial nominee of the 110th Congress. Eight Democrats from states President Bush carried in 2004 joined all 49 Republicans as well as three blue-state Democrats and Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman. The Senate later confirmed the nominee by a 59-38 vote. Democratic Sens. Ken Salazar (Colo.), Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and Tom Carper (Del.) voted against confirming Southwick after they voted to break a filibuster.

Three of the Senate’s Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Barack Obama (Ill.) and Joseph Biden (Del.), voted to sustain a filibuster and opposed the nomination. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) was not present for the vote, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain (Ariz.) strongly backed Southwick’s choice.

The decision by the Democrats to oppose the nominee, particularly that of front-runner Clinton, prompted Republicans to warn that their votes would haunt them along the campaign trail. If one of the Democrats should win the White House in 2008, Republicans warn they would be emboldened to block nominees they oppose, regardless of their qualifications.

“What was Hillary thinking?” Lott said. “If one of them becomes president, heaven forbid, you think we won’t remind them?”

The candidates defended their votes, saying Southwick’s record on minority and gay rights was troubling, and he should not be confirmed to a New Orleans-based court that hears a slew of civil rights cases.

“The American people deserve federal judges — regardless of who nominates them — who are dedicated to an even-handed and just application of our laws,” Clinton said.

The liberal wing of the Democratic Party reacted strongly to the vote. The Congressional Black Caucus, which represents 42 black House Democrats from 21 states, lobbied vigorously to derail the nomination and said it was “outraged” by the vote.

“That’s not what Americans voted for when they gave Democrats a majority in the Senate,” said Judith Schaeffer, legal director of the liberal group People for the American Way.

Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said she “deplores the Senate’s failure to stand up to the Bush administration’s court-packing agenda.”

The groups argue that while sitting on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995 to 2006, Southwick had a hostile record toward minorities. In particular, they point to two cases: a 1998 case in which Southwick joined a ruling that upheld the reinstatement of a state employee who was fired for using a racial slur against a black co-worker, and a 2001 ruling that he joined to award custody of an 8-year-old girl to a father, saying the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.”

Southwick’s supporters say that the critics have distorted the record of a nominee who is a fair and qualified arbiter of the law, adding that he did not author the opinions in question.

The assurances won over a number of Democrats, including Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.). Nelson was part of an effort to woo centrist senators to support the nomination, saying it would foster cooperation in the partisan Senate and help Democrats win Republican support on appropriations measures.

But the Democrats who defected did not cite Nelson’s efforts as part of their reasoning for backing the nominee.

Instead, they agreed with Republican arguments that Southwick would be an open-minded judge.

One of the main Democratic defectors was Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), who in August backed the nomination to move forward in the Senate Judiciary Committee by joining all nine committee Republicans in approving the nominee on a 10-9 vote. On Wednesday, Republicans called her a “heroine.”

“I don’t know about this heroine business,” Feinstein said.

Not everyone saw her that way. A California House Democrat, Barbara Lee, singled out Feinstein in a statement, saying she was “incredibly disappointed” at the senator for allowing the vote to move forward.

On the other side, one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection, Mary Landrieu (La.), voted against the nomination, which may open her up to attacks by Republicans on a judicial issue that could rile up the conservative base.

“The Grover Norquists and Karl Roves of the world will make [attacks] up, no matter what,” she said.

Speaking from the White House, Bush called Southwick “a man of character who will apply the law fairly.”