After Seniority Flap, Specter Lands Plum Gig

Dick Durbin has yielded his seat atop the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime and drugs to Arlen Specter, a consolation prize after Democrats stripped their new colleague of his seniority, Politico reports. In exchange, Durbin will take the helm of a newly reconstituted human-rights subcommittee. The move should help convince Pennsylvania voters that Specter still wields influence despite having been stripped of his seniority.

Handing Specter a gavel, even of a subcommittee, is also expected to help keep him in line during the upcoming Supreme Court confirmation tussle. "What we don't want is an angry former Republican during a Supreme Court hearing," a Democratic staffer told the Washington Post. Specter chaired the Judiciary Committee in 2005-06 and was the ranking member until he jumped parties.
(Read more Arlen Specter stories.)