WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential Republican senator said Wednesday that he intends to support President Barack Obama’s choice to fill a vacancy on the federal appeals court in Washington, a promising development for a Democratic administration that has complained that Republicans have been too slow to allow votes on many of its judicial nominees.

Of the court’s seven active judges, four are GOP appointees and three are Democratic appointees. The court has four vacancies, and that gives Obama the opportunity to shift the balance of the court. Six senior judges on the court handle reduced caseloads.