THE IRON LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES:

Although the change benefited Republicans at the time, it has allowed Democrats to confirm judges during Biden's first year at a pace that was last rivaled by former President Ronald Reagan's initial 365 days in office. [...]

And it's not the only arcane change that Democrats have benefited from, taken right out of the GOP playbook, when it comes to judicial fights.

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is continuing his GOP predecessors' move to nix the veto power that home-state senators once wielded over circuit court nominees. That tradition is known as the"blue slip," named for the paper that senators use to express their favorable or unfavorable opinion about a specific judicial pick. Durbin took his first formal step against the practice this month, moving forward on a circuit court nominee who would represent Tennessee and lacked support from both GOP Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty.

"Senate Democrats and the Biden administration are not allowing Republicans to play by one set of rules and Democrats by the other," said Christopher Kang, chief counsel at the liberal group Demand Justice. "Of course they should take advantage of the fact that blue slips don't exist anymore for circuit court judges, and obviously the fact that the time has decreased now to two hours for district court nominees."

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