Trump slams ‘stupid and outdated’ blue slip rule for candidates
President Trump on Thursday again criticized the practice of the “blue slip,” which allows state senators to veto district court judge and U.S. attorney nominees.
Trump said, in a post on his Truth Social platform, that he has eight “highly respected” nominees for US attorney who “will not be confirmed to their positions in various high-profile states just because they are Republicans.”
The president added that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee convinced Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to respect the “blue cruelty” rule.
“The careers of these great people have been severely damaged by radical left-wing Democrats, who are using an ancient and ridiculous habit to their advantage,” Trump said. “What a shame!”
Traditionally, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee does not proceed with such nominations until both senators representing the state in which the districts are located have returned blue papers approving them.
Trump has criticized the practice in the past, including in August, when he said his constitutional right to appoint U.S. judges and attorneys had been “completely taken away from me” in states with at least one Democrat.
When reached for comment, Grassley’s spokesperson directed The Hill to his post on the social media platform X in August, in response to the president’s recent criticism of the habit.
Any nominee for U.S. attorney and district judge “without a blue slip does not need the votes to be confirmed on the Senate floor, and does not need the votes to get out of committee,” Grassley said.
“As President, I positioned President Trump’s nominations for success, not failure.”
Candidates for U.S. attorney who are in states with at least one Democratic senator include Jay Clayton in the Southern District of New York and Erin Kerrigan in New Hampshire.
In July, Trump was forced to withdraw the nomination of Alina Haba, his former defense attorney, to be US attorney for New Jersey after the state’s two Democratic senators, Andy Kim and Cory Booker, opposed him.
The administration then sought to keep her in office without Senate approval, but a federal judge ruled in August that she was serving illegally as the Garden State’s top federal prosecutor.
