Fate of Senate Custom an Early Test for Durbin on Judicial Picks

New Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin faces the first test of how he balances his institutionalist instincts and progressive pressure on judicial confirmations when it comes to whether he lets home-state senators block nominees.

Progressives consider Durbin’s approach to the “blue slip” privilege an important signal of how aggressive he’ll be in advancing President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.

The decision by Senate Republicans to ignore blue slips from home-state Democrats for circuit nominees made it easier for President Donald Trump to remake those courts with younger conservatives. He appointed more than a quarter of the federal bench, including 54 appellate ...