President Donald Trump announced plans to sue over a longstanding Senate practice that allows lawmakers to block his U.S. attorney and district court nominees, even as the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee defended the tradition.
Trump focused on the Senate’s “blue slip” process, which effectively allows both Republican and Democratic senators to veto judicial and U.S. attorney appointments in their home states. The president has called for the practice to be eliminated, citing delays from Senate Democrats who have slowed the confirmation of his nominees.
“We’re also going to be filing a lawsuit on blue slipping,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office. “Blue slips make it impossible for me, as president, to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney because 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’s legal threat follows his weekend criticism of Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, demanding the practice be overturned.
Grassley, however, argued in multiple posts on X that removing blue slips would likely prevent Trump’s nominees from being confirmed.
“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 maintained that the practice infringes on his constitutional right to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys, especially in states with a single Democratic senator.
“This is because of an old and outdated ‘custom’ known as a BLUE SLIP, that Senator Chuck Grassley, of the Great State of Iowa, refuses to overturn, even though the Democrats, including Crooked Joe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 added.
Grassley countered that blue slips are equally important for Republicans, particularly during the Biden administration, to protect the appointment process and maintain Senate oversight.
“The 100-year-old ‘blue slip’ allows home state senators 2 [have] input on US [attorneys] & district court judges,” Grassley explained. “In Biden admin, Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL [WITH] CONSERVATIVES.”
Senate Democrats have indeed used the blue slip tradition to block certain Trump nominees during his second term, contributing to the broader delays in confirmations.
For example, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., used his blue slip authority to block U.S. Attorney nominees for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats from New Jersey, also objected to Alina Habba’s nomination for U.S. Attorney in the state. Habba, initially serving in an interim role, saw her nomination withdrawn after procedural issues and a replacement’s brief tenure.
“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 criticism comes after he urged Grassley last month to challenge the tradition, demanding he “have the courage” to change the process.
As Senate Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement to expedite many of the president’s nominees before the August recess, navigating the confirmation process—and possibly revising the Senate rules—remains a key priority for GOP lawmakers after Labor Day.
