Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump He says the Senate’s century tradition of allowing senators to sign off to federal judges and US lawyer candidates is “old and outdated.” Republican senators disagree.
Trump is like that I’m complaining about something called the blue slip process For several weeks, he has pushed up the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman. Chuck GrassleyR-Iowa, abandoning practice. But the veteran senators are not upset. On Monday, Trump said he could sue, claiming that he would only get a “weak” judge approved in a state with at least one Democratic senator.
“It’s based on old habits. It’s not based on the law, and I think it’s unconstitutional,” Trump told reporters. “And I’ll probably go ahead and file a lawsuit against it soon.”
Look at the Blue Slip Process and why Republicans are holding it for now:
Trump faces rare pushbacks from Republicans
It is unclear who Trump will sue or how such a case will work, since the Senate set its own rules. And Senate Republicans aren’t bored with claiming that They used the process for their own benefit When Joe Biden, a Democrat, was president. They say they hope they will get their practice in place if they are in the minority again.
Republicans also note that judges who have not been approved by their hometown senators are unlikely to have enough votes to confirm anyway.
“Biden’s administrator Republicans have left 30 Liberals from the bench whom Trump can now fill the W conservatives,” Grassley posted on X shortly after Trump’s remarks on Monday.
North Carolina Sen. Tom Tillis, a Republican on the Judiciary Committee, posted on X that removing the blue slip was a “terrifying myopia ploy to pave the pathway that would pave Democrats over the long-term red state extremist liberal judges.
Republicans should “not fall into that,” Tillis wrote.
Senate majority leader John Tune, Rs.D. He also defended Blue Slip, saying he used the process himself in the past and worked with the Biden administration when there was a judicial vacancy in South Dakota. “I don’t feel like I’m in a hurry to change that,” Tune said.
It’s evolved, but it’s a long-standing habit
A blue slip is a blue shape that is presented to two Home Office senators after the president nominates someone to become a district judge or US lawyer, even among federal positions within one state.
Homestate Senators can individually return slips with positive or negative reactions. If there is a negative response or the form is not returned, the Judicial Panel Chair may choose not to move forward.
Democrats opposed some of Trump’s candidates this year. Alina Habatwo prosecutors appointed in New Jersey for US lawyers and New York, blocked by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the blue slip tradition has been in place since at least 1918. But like many Senate traditions, it has evolved over the years and has become more partisan. Until 2017, at the beginning of Trump’s first term, Blue Slip was also recognized for candidates to the Circuit Court overseeing multiple states. However, the Republican-led Judicial Committee, led by Grassley at the time, stopped its tradition.
In the past, the White House has often worked with Homestate Senators in deciding who to nominate. But Trump and the Democrats have shown little interest in working with each other.
Trump is frustrated
Trump focused his anger on Grassley. Grassley is a longtime ally of Senate Republicans. In a July post on social media, Trump urged Grassley to give him the “courage” to stop celebrating the blue slip.
“Chuck Grassley, who was re-elected to the US Senate in Iowa’s great state, when he fell, was able to solve the problem of “blue slip,” Trump posted.
Grassley responded by defending the practice, and he said, “I said I was angry at what the president said, I’m disappointed that it would lead to personal insults.”
Trump resurrected his complaints this week, leading to a threat to Sue. On Sunday he posted, “In a state where I have the right to consult with appointing a judge and a US lawyer, but in a state where there is only one Democratic U.S. Senator, that right has been completely taken away from me.”
It’s all part of a broader nomination fight
Even if Republicans reject Trump with Blue Slip, they agreed that the nomination process should move faster, especially as Democrats slow the votes for all his candidates.
Trump and Republicans threatened to pressure Senate Democrats to lift some of their candidates ahead of the traditional August break, and force them to stay in sessions all month. But the effort failed Anyway, the Senate left town.Trump posted on social media, and Schumer said, “You can go to hell!”
After that standoff, Thune said the fall’s Senate rules change would make it difficult for Democrats to stop or delay votes for nominations.
“I think the last six months have demonstrated that this process, the nomination, is broken,” Thune says. “And I think there’s some robust conversation about it.”
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