WASHINGTON – Democrats confirmed Friday that they will make a last-ditch attempt to slow Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito’s momentum by delaying the first vote on his candidacy.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in the waning minutes of Alito’s confirmation hearing that unnamed Democrats will “exercise their rights” to put off next week’s scheduled Alito vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

That vote would have been Republicans’ first chance to officially endorse President Bush’s pick to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. All 10 GOP Judiciary Committee members already have announced their support for Alito, a 55-year-old federal appeals judge, former federal prosecutor and Reagan administration lawyer.

Democrats’ chances of stopping Alito seem to get slimmer each day. The only way they can block his nomination is through a filibuster, and they would need Republican help to keep Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., from banning the tactic.

But five of the seven Republican members of the “Gang of 14” – centrist senators who defused a Senate showdown over judicial filibusters last year by saying “extraordinary circumstances” would be needed – already have said they will not help Democrats if they attempt to filibuster Alito’s confirmation.

Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, both Judiciary Committee members, made that commitment before the confirmation began, and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, agreed Thursday that a filibuster would not be justified.

On Friday, two other GOP “Gang” members jumped in. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine “does not see a justification for and would not support a filibuster,” spokeswoman Jen Burita said.