https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/10/politics/biden-judges-senate-blue-slips-absences/index.html
==Biden judicial push hits roadblocks with GOP veto-power and Democratic absences
Lauren Fox==
By Tierney Sneed and Lauren Fox, CNN
Updated 9:01 AM EDT, Mon April 10, 2023
he remarkable pace with which President Joe Biden has sought to remake the federal bench has been put into jeopardy by dual threats: Democratic Senate absences and a Senate rule that gives Republicans the ability to veto district court nominees for courts in their home states.
It’s a combination that has Democrats increasingly concerned about the fate of future nominees at a time when the party had hoped to counteract years judiciary transformation under President Donald Trump.
The latest blow came last week when Biden’s choice to fill a district court vacancy in Mississippi became the second nominee to be blockaded by the Senate rule, known as the blue slip tradition.
Mississippi GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced Tuesday that she would not return her “blue slip” for nominee Scott Colom, effectively sinking his nomination if Democrats choose to continue honoring the rule. The White House has said it is not backing away from its selection of Colom, currently the district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi.
But even if Democrats wanted to push forward, the absence of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, away from Senate for several weeks with a case of shingles, stands in the way. Without Feinstein on the panel, the partisan breakdown is 10-10.
No date has been given for the 89-year-old Feinstein to come back to Washington.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin acknowledged to CNN that Feinstein’s absence has slowed down their push to confirm nominees.
“I can’t consider nominees in these circumstances because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee,” Durbin said.
Asked if her absence has longer ramifications on the Democrats’ ability to confirm nominees, the Senate chairman said “yes, of course it does,” pointing to the long process of getting nominees scheduled for votes during precious floor time.