WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump has been frustrated by a Senate tradition that has negatively affected his appointments for U.S. attorney positions.
The “blue slip” is a tradition in the upper chamber in which home state senators of U.S. attorney and district court nominees either approve or disapprove of that person. Both state senators must return their blue slip for the nomination to be considered.
The blue slip is one of the more powerful tools that senators have.
“Historically, senators have been very powerful actors in the politics of the state that they represent,” Cornell University political science professor Richard Bensel told The Epoch Times.
“This tradition, in effect, has been a reciprocal recognition of that fact within which each senator grants their colleagues more or less veto power over judicial nominees.
“Like the filibuster, the tradition has enhanced the influence of individual senators while, to a minor extent, reducing majority rule in the full Senate.”
Appointments Halted by the Blue Slip
Trump has called for the blue slip to be eliminated.
“We’re losing a lot of great people. We have about seven U.S. attorneys who are not going to be able to keep their jobs much longer because of the blue slip,” he said during a roundtable on Dec. 9.
“But it should be done away with. I want to be able to appoint the most highly educated, the most respected people.
“They can’t keep their jobs. Because of the blue slips. Terrible.”
Alina Habba, who was picked by Trump to be U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, resigned as New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, declined to return their blue slip. In her Dec. 8 statement announcing her resignation after a federal judge ruled that she was unlawfully appointed to the U.S. attorney role, Habba cited the blue slip as being an obstacle.
“While I was focused on delivering real results, judges in my state took advantage of a flawed blue slip tradition and became weapons for the politicized left,” she said.
“For months, these judges stopped conducting trials and entering sentences, leaving violent criminals on the streets.
“They joined New Jersey senators, who care more about fighting President Trump than the well-being of residents which they serve.”
In August, a federal court ruled that Habba’s appointment ran afoul of the law and named an interim successor, who was then fired by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who in turn named Habba first assistant of the New Jersey office and, therefore, the de facto acting U.S. attorney.
In November, a federal judge ruled that Lindsey Halligan’s appointment to be U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was invalid as her interim tenure was valid for only 120 days.
Virginia’s Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, are opposed to Halligan’s nomination.
Additionally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said he will not return his blue slip for U.S. attorney nominees in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
No Sign of GOP Abandoning the Blue Slip
Despite Trump’s call to do away with the blue slip, Republicans want to keep the custom.
“A U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote in an Aug. 25 post on X.
“The 100 yr old ‘blue slip’ allows home state senators 2 hv input on US attys & district court judges In Biden admin Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL W CONSERVATIVES,” Grassley wrote in another post on X.
Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Epoch Times that Grassley has been “holding the line” on the issue. Indeed, there have been no cracks in the Senate GOP conference when it comes to the blue slip, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) told The Epoch Times.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the committee, also said he supported the tradition.
“Getting rid of the blue slip is a terrible, short-sighted ploy that paves the path for Democrats to ram through extremist liberal judges in red states over the long-term,” Tillis wrote in an Aug. 25 post on X. “It’s why radical liberal groups have been pushing to get rid of the blue slip for years—Republicans shouldn’t fall for it.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) told The Epoch Times that he has been an intermediary on the issue and that he will talk to Grassley about it.
“On the one hand, it’s important that you have the checks and balances,” he said. “But on the other hand, I get his frustration.
“It’s like, no matter who he puts up in those states, the Democrats are just an automatic [no], and it’s supposed to be when the candidates [are] not qualified. These are very, very qualified candidates.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). The Epoch Times regrets the error.
