Grassley defies Trump demand to scrap Senate ‘blue slips’ for judicial picks

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is again standing firm against President Donald Trump’s demand that Senate tradition be changed to ram through his district court and U.S. attorney nominees.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, came under fire from Trump again late Sunday night over the Senate’s “blue slips,” a longstanding practice in the upper chamber that the president wants to be done away with.

A blue slip effectively gives Senate Republicans and Democrats the ability to veto district court and U.S. attorney nominees in their home states.

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But Grassley argued in a response on X Monday that without blue slips, none of Trump’s nominees would pass muster in the Senate.

“A U.S. Atty/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 said. “As chairman I set [President] Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE.”

Trump argued that it was his constitutional right to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys, but the right had been “completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator.”

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“This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn, even though the Democrats, including Crooked Joe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 said.  

“Therefore, the only candidates that I can get confirmed for these most important positions are, believe it or not, Democrats! Chuck Grassley should allow strong Republican candidates to ascend to these very vital and powerful roles, and tell the Democrats, as they often tell us, to go to HELL,” he continued.

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Senate Democrats have indeed used the blue slip tradition this year to block some of Trump’s picks for the bench as part of their broader log jam of his nominees.

For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used his blue slip privileges to nix Trump’s U.S. Attorney nominees for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

And Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats from New Jersey, used the blue slip to object to Alina Habba’s nomination to U.S. Attorney in the Garden State. Habba was tapped by Trump to serve in the role on an interim basis, but after her term expired a panel of judges opted to not extend her position. 

A replacement was chosen but then fired by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Trump then withdrew his nomination for Habba and restored her interim status. 

“Habba was withdrawn as the President’s nominee for New Jersey U.S. Atty on July 24,” Grassley said. “[And] the [Judiciary Committee] never received any of the paperwork needed for the Senate to vet her nomination.”

Trump’s renewed ire comes after he singled out Grassley last month for not nixing the longstanding tradition, which is not a law, and demanded that he “have the courage” to change the practice.

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It also comes after Senate Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a deal on ramming through many of the president’s nominees before leaving Washington for all of August. 

Finding a pathway forward, including a likely change to the Senate’s confirmation process, is expected to be a top priority for Republicans when they return to the Hill after Labor Day.