WASHINGTON (AP) — Ten former federal judges, including former FBI Director William Webster, are asking Senate leaders to withhold consideration of a Supreme Court nominee until after Inauguration Day.

The ex-judges, appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, say the judicial confirmation process has become "dangerously politicized.'' They warn that injecting a bitter Supreme Court confirmation fight "into this noxious mix" could "unalterably change and diminish the public's faith in this vital institution.''

The legitimacy of the Supreme Court "is not something that can be recovered if it is lost,'' the judges wrote in a letter to Senate leaders from both parties. "It is up to you to demonstrate the same restraint demanded of our judiciary.''

In addition to Webster, who was a district and appeals court judge before heading the FBI and CIA, the letter is signed by nine other former judges. They include appeals courts judges H. Lee Sarokin of New Jersey, Thomas Vanaskie of Pennsylvania, and Ann Claire Williams of Illinois.