A confirmation hearing has been delayed for months for a federal district court nominee from Mississippi, a lag other judicial picks by President Joe Biden haven't faced.
According to Roll Call, the administration announced Scott Colom as a nominee for judge in the federal Northern District of Mississippi in October. Nine other judicial nominees picked after him have completed confirmation hearings.
The delay is apparently due to a committee tradition known as the "blue slip" process, which gives senators a de facto veto over nominees to district court seats in their home states.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has returned a blue slip for Colom's nomination, Roll Call reported, while Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., declined to comment.
The office of Judiciary chair Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., wouldn't tell Roll Call if a blue slip had been returned from Hyde-Smith.
Colom was elected in 2015 as district attorney for the 16th circuit court district in Mississippi, which he still holds, campaigning in part on what he called a "criminal justice reform platform" that included a different approach for young drug offenders, Roll Call reported.
His opponent, longtime District Attorney Forrest Allgood, has said the election outcome was tilted by money from liberal billionaire George Soros.