WASHINGTON – The uneasy Texas truce over the selection of federal judges and prosecutors has quietly taken a turn. The new and improved committee that screens applicants for the state's Republican senators spent Friday at a downtown Dallas law firm, interviewing candidates for U.S. attorney.

This marked a turning point – the first time in 14 years that Republican Texas senators have sought formal input from prominent Democratic lawyers, among them Paul Coggins of Dallas, who was named U.S. attorney under Bill Clinton.

"It's in everyone's interest to get the best candidates," Coggins said Saturday. "It always has been and always will be the case that senators play a role, even when their party is not in power."

A few weeks ago, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison asked Coggins to join the screening committee, as she and Sen. John Cornyn retooled it to ease tensions with House Democrats.

Whether that works remains to be seen. Democrats weren't quick to embrace the new committee and weren't at all promising to accept its recommendations.

"No one will serve in these positions without the approval of our Democratic delegation," Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who has led the fight, said through an aide late Friday. "The White House reaffirmed this position only this week. We continue to welcome the input of the senators, using whatever process they prefer."

For years, the Texas senators' screening committee was cloaked in secrecy and it was, by all accounts, weighted with Republicans and corporate lawyers. Only the chair and vice chair were identified.

When Barack Obama won the White House, the dozen Texas Democrats in the U.S. House claimed the prerogative to suggest judicial nominees.

Hutchison and Cornyn dug in, noting that the Constitution gives the Senate alone the right to confirm or reject nominees – and that Senate rules would make it easy for them to block home-state nominees if they feel circumvented.

Throughout the spring, both sides pressed their case with White House counsel Gregory Craig. His conflicting assurances seemed to stoke the confrontation.

The senators promised to broaden the screening committee and lift the veil. That they have now done, with a late Friday data dump.

After the panel put in a full day of interviews, and after weeks of repeated requests, Hutchison's office released a list of 31 members of the retooled committee.

Some Democratic names jump out, and some known trial lawyers are on the list, though aides acknowledged that at least half the members are holdovers. Among those: Texas Solicitor James Ho, the former Cornyn legal adviser and clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and chairman Dan Hedges of Houston, a Reagan-appointed U.S. attorney.

Other prominent members include another former U.S. attorney, Tony Canales of Corpus Christi, a Carter appointee; Dee Kelly of Fort Worth; Andy Taylor, a GOP redistricting lawyer; and Victor Vital, who represents Dallas councilman Don Hill's wife in the City Hall corruption trial that starts Monday.

Congressional Democrats may end up submitting their own names to Obama for judgeships and prosecutor slots across Texas. Coggins, for one, expects some overlap as strong candidates rise through parallel screening systems.

He recounted his own path to the U.S. attorney's post.

His nomination was in limbo after Hutchison unseated Democrat Bob Krueger.

When a Houston appointee, Gaynelle Griffin Jones, won confirmation ahead of him, Coggins discovered why. She had defied Justice Department advice to avoid contact with Hutchison and senior Sen. Phil Gramm.

Coggins did likewise, and the logjam soon cleared.

"Obviously I respect the Texas Democrats," he said, "but I have to say this. Having gone through the process, regardless of what role the senators play, they will play a role."

Todd J. Gillman is Washington Bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News.