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Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said she wanted to counter Republicans' claims that the blue-slip procedure has not been religiously applied to nominations for circuit court seats. | Getty Feinstein defends blue-slip tactic to block judges

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee is warning Republicans against cutting back on the rights of home-state senators to block judicial nominees through a process known as the blue slip.

At a confirmation hearing Wednesday on three of President Donald Trump's judicial picks, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said she wanted to counter Republicans' claims that the blue-slip procedure has not been religiously applied to nominations for circuit court seats.

Feinstein noted that one of the nominees appearing before the panel Wednesday, Kevin Newsom, has been selected for a seat that President Barack Obama tried to fill last year. Obama's pick, U.S. District Court Judge Abdul Kallon, never got a hearing because Sen. Richard Shelby and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions declined to return the so-called blue slips for the Alabama resident. So, the seat remained vacant.

"I’ve seen in the media some comments from friends across the aisle suggesting that blue slips have historically been less important for circuit court nominees than district court nominees. And respectfully that’s just not the case. The fact that Mr. Newsom is sitting before us today proves that fact," Feinstein said.

Newsom has the support of Shelby and Sen. Luther Strange, who took Sessions' spot when he became attorney general. Both senators appeared at the hearing Wednesday to endorse Newsom.

The blue slip process, applied to judicial nominees, as well as U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal positions, is a Senate tradition and not a formal rule. Some Republicans, such as Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have said recently they would favor softening the practice if Democrats use it to block too many of Trump's nominees

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The current Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, has maintained the blue-slip process. However, his predecessor — Sen. Orrin Hatch — did relax it a bit about a decade and a half ago, allowing some hearings to proceed even when home-state Democrats were opposing those nominees from President George W. Bush.

In 2013 and 2014, then-chairman of the Judiciary panel—Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont—came under pressure from liberal activists to abandon the blue slip practice in order to confirm President Barack Obama's judicial nominees being held up by Republicans. Leahy said he might do that if the system was being "abused," but he never rolled back the tradition.

Feinstein signaled Wednesday that it would be a mistake for Republicans to abandon the system requiring buy-in from local senators.

"That is the prerogative of home state senators for judicial nominees from their states, including circuit court judges," she said.