Washington ? A federal appeals court unanimously ordered Thursday that a Bush administration appointee be placed on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, overruling a lower court and providing the White House with a victory in a partisan battle over the composition and political voice of the agency.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 3-0 to place Peter Kirsansow, a conservative Cleveland labor lawyer, on the eight-member panel, fulfilling his appointment by President Bush in December. The appointment had been resisted by the commission chairwoman and the Democratic-liberal majority, who contended that there was no vacancy.

At issue was whether Victoria Wilson, a Clinton appointee, had been given a full six-year term or whether she was filling out the remainder of a term that expired last year.

A U.S. District Court judge ruled Wilson was given a full term, but the appeals court said that was a misinterpretation of the law governing the commission.