WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump continued his tirade against Democratic objections to his nominees, pressing Republicans to undo a longstanding practice that allows members of the minority party to unilaterally block a judicial nomination if they are being considered in their home state.
The obscure rule, known as blue slips, has been permitted since at least 1917 and allows the two senators from the home state of the candidate to object to their nomination if they so choose. That rule has given some Senate Democrats, who are in the minority and otherwise powerless to block Trump’s nominees, the ability to delay the president’s candidates they disagree with.
“I have a Constitutional Right to appoint Judges and U.S. Attorneys, but that RIGHT has been completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn, even though the Democrats, including Crooked Joe Biden (Twice!), have done so on numerous occasions.”
Trump specifically referred to Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has repeatedly defended the blue slip rule even as he has faced attacks from the president over the last few weeks.
Trump continued his objections to “blue slipping” during a press briefing on Monday as he suggested he would file a lawsuit against the century-old rule, arguing it’s not legally binding.
“They have a gentleman’s agreement, nothing memorialized, it’s a gentleman’s agreement that’s about 100 years old where if you have a president, like a Republican, and if you have a Democrat senator, that senator can stop you from appointing a judge or a U.S. attorney,” Trump said.
What is a blue slip?
The blue slip is a procedure used by the Senate Judiciary Committee specifically for U.S. circuit and district court nominations, according to Congress.gov.
The process has been used for more than a century and gives any one senator the power to block a nominee in his or her state. That objection is done after the president sends both senators in the state a blue-colored slip — hence the name “blue slips” — to assess and approve the nominee.
The procedure has never been codified into law nor is it required by the committee’s rules — which is what Trump referred to when he called the rule simply a “gentlemen’s agreement.” As a result, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee — in this case, Grassley — has the power to override the blue slip and schedule a full committee vote.
Still, the procedure has been recognized and adhered to for decades. For example, from 1956 to 2016, there were only three nominees who were confirmed despite not having support from both home state senators, according to Congress.gov.
That means Grassley could choose to overrule a Democratic objection if he wanted to, but the Iowa Republican has long supported the precedent.
Grassley has defended the use of the blue slip process, arguing if the nominee can’t garner the support of both home state senators, they would likely fail on the floor.
If a Democratic senator is blocking the nominee through blue slip, they’re likely to be objected by the full Senate anyway, Grassley argues.
“A U.S. (attorney)/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not (have) the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t (have) the votes to get out of (committee),” Grassley wrote in a post on X. “As chairman I set Pres Trump (nominees) up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE.”
Why is this a problem right now?
Trump has railed against the blue slip process for weeks, claiming it unfairly lets Democratic senators have a say over his nominations in certain states.
Trump has specifically referred to New Jersey senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim who have blocked the president’s efforts to install his former attorney Alina Habba as a federal prosecutor in the Garden State.
Habba’s temporary appointment to the position expired in the beginning of July, prompting a state court to appoint a different attorney until a nominee was confirmed by the Senate.
That’s because federal law allows the attorney general to appoint an interim attorney for up to 120 days while the nominee is considered by Congress. If the nominee is still not confirmed by the end of that 120-day window, the district court itself may appoint a U.S. attorney to hold the seat until the vacancy is filled.
Bondi later removed the new interim appointee and reinstated Habba under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. But that decision was overturned by U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann last week, who said Habba “is not lawfully holding the office of United States Attorney” and has been holding the position without legal authority since July 1.
The decision angered Trump, prompting him to once again rail against the blue slip process that he argues is hindering his authority to appoint judges.
“The only person I will be able to get approved in any of those states where you have a Democrat, I can’t get a U.S. attorney, I can only get a Democrat U.S. attorney,” he said on Monday. “And this is based on an old custom, it’s not based on a law, and I think it’s unconstitutional, and I’ll probably be filing a suit on that soon.”