 "Donald Trump and Republicans are fighting over 'blue slips'. But what are they?")
US President Donald Trump in a fight with Republican senators — who for once are refusing to back down.
The source of the dispute? A century-old old tradition known as ‘blue slips’.
Trump’s ire on this process has been aroused for weeks. Trump has even gone after a senior Republican senator and threatened legal action.
However, the Republicans and the Senate are refusing to back down.
But what do we know about this process? And why the dispute between Trump and Republicans in the Senate?
Let’s take a closer look
What are ‘blue slips’?
Blue slips are a tradition of allowing home state senators to sign off on some federal judges and US attorney nominees.
Trump has been complaining about what’s called the blue slip process for weeks.
He has tried to target Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, into giving in.
However, Grassley, a veteran, has refused to back down.
On Monday, Trump said he may sue, arguing that he can only get “weak” judges approved in states that have at least one Democratic senator.
“This is based on an old custom. It’s not based on a law. And I think it’s unconstitutional,” Trump told reporters. “And I’ll probably be filing a suit on that pretty soon.”
Who would Trump sue?
This remains unclear.
The Senate has its own rules. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are already thinking beyond the Trump presidency.
They argued that they’ve used this process in the past when Joe Biden was president and want to leave it in place when they are in minority again.
They also pointed out that judges who don’t receive approval from their home state senators are unlikely to have enough votes for confirmation, anyway.
“In Biden admin Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL W CONSERVATIVES,” Grassley posted on X shortly after Trump’s remarks on Monday.
North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican member of the judiciary committee, wrote on X that 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.”
Republicans “shouldn’t fall for it,” Tillis wrote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has also rallied to the defence of blue slips.
Thune said he had used the process himself and worked with the Biden administration when there was a judicial vacancy in South Dakota. “I don’t sense any rush to change it,” Thune said.
A blue-coloured form
The blue slip is a blue-coloured form that is submitted to the two home state senators after the president nominates someone to become a district judge or US attorney, among other federal positions that are contained within one state.
The home state senators can individually return the slips with a positive or negative response. If there is a negative response, or if the form is not returned, the chairman of the judiciary panel can choose not to move forward.
Democrats have opposed several of Trump’s nominees this year, including Alina Habba, a nominee for US attorney in New Jersey, and two prosecutors nominated in New York who have been blocked by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
The blue slip tradition has been in place since at least 1918, according to the Congressional Research Service.
But like many Senate traditions, it has evolved over the years to become more partisan. Until 2017, at the beginning of Trump’s first term, blue slips were also honoured for nominees to the circuit court, which oversee multiple states. But the Republican-led judiciary panel, also led then by Grassley, did away with that tradition.
In the past, the White House has often worked with home state senators as they decide who to nominate. But Trump and Democrats have shown little interest in working with each other.
‘Blue slip problem’
Trump has focused his rage on Grassley, a longtime ally who is the senior-most Senate Republican. In a July post on social media, Trump called on Grassley to have the “courage” to stop honoring the blue slips.
“Chuck Grassley, who I got re-elected to the US Senate when he was down, by a lot, in the Great State of Iowa, could solve the ‘Blue Slip’ problem,” Trump posted.
Grassley responded by defending the practice, and he said he was “offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults.”
Trump revived his complaints this week, culminating with the threat to sue.
On Sunday, he posted that “I have a Consultational Right to appoint Judges and U.S. Attorneys, but that RIGHT has been completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator.”
Democrats slow votes
Even as Republicans have defied Trump on blue slips, they have agreed with him that the nominations process needs to move faster — especially as Democrats have slowed votes on all of his nominees.
Trump and Republicans pressured Senate Democrats to lift some of their holds on nominees ahead of the traditional August recess, threatening to force them to remain in session all month. But the effort was unsuccessful, and the Senate left town anyway, with Trump posting on social media that Schumer can “GO TO HELL!”
After that standoff, Thune said the chamber will consider in the fall Senate rule changes that would make it harder for Democrats to block or slow votes on nominations.
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