WASHINGTON – Just inside the entryway of Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin’s Capitol Hill office hangs a framed whip scorpion, an imposing arachnid found in parts of the southern U.S. that uses its spiny appendages to whip both prey and potential mates to sense its surrounding environment.
The specimen, on loan from The Field Museum in Chicago, is a longstanding reminder of Durbin’s role as Democratic whip, the party's No. 2 in the Senate tasked with anticipating his colleagues' moves – both friend and foe alike. It's a role he's played for more than 15 years and one he'll channel as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the upcoming battle to confirm President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who is poised to become the first Black woman on the high court.
Source link
