Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley is holding firm against pressure from President Donald Trump to upend a Senate practice partly responsible for blocking Alina Habba from securing confirmation as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
Trump has called on Grassley for weeks to scrap the upper chamber’s “blue-slip” tradition allowing home-state senators to veto judicial picks nominated to serve in their states. Democratic New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim have used the custom to prevent Habba’s nomination by Trump for the state’s U.S. Attorney post from being considered by the upper chamber.
Grassley, who leads the committee responsible for confirming Trump’s judicial nominees, argued Monday that without the blue slip tradition the president’s picks will fail to advance out of the judiciary panel.
“A U.S. Atty/district judge nominee without a blue slip does not hv the votes to get confirmed on the Senate floor & they don’t hv the votes to get out of cmte,” Grassley wrote on the social media platform X. “As chairman I set Pres Trump noms up for SUCCESS NOT FAILURE.”
Senate Republicans wield a 12-10 majority on the Judiciary Committee, allowing just one GOP senator to block a nominee from advancing to the Senate floor if they join with Democrats in voting “no.” Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who sits on the judiciary panel, has committed to voting against any judicial nominee that is opposed by a home-state senator. The North Carolina Republican announced his decision not to seek reelection in July.
“Rather than succumbing to the moment and the pressure to destroy a decades-old tradition, figure out how to get it done in spite of those limits,” Tillis said during a speech on the Senate floor on Aug. 1. “If we don’t honor what we’ve heard Chair Grassley say is foundational and very very important to the Judiciary Committee, I think those who will be here after I leave will regret it.”
Mike Davis, a top Trump ally who leads a conservative judicial advocacy group, defended Grassley’s reasoning that Habba does not have the votes to be confirmed Monday. Davis formerly served as the chief counsel for nominations under Grassley on the judiciary panel.
“Tillis has already said he will vote against nominees without blue slips. So these nominees will fail in their committee votes,” Davis said. “This isn’t a Grassley problem. This is a Senate problem.”
Habba’s nomination to serve as U.S. attorney for New Jersey was thrown into further jeopardy after a federal judge ruled Thursday that she was serving in her position “unlawfully.” Habba urged Grassley and Tillis to revoke the blue slip practice during an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning.
“This tradition that Senator Grassley is upholding effectively prevents anybody in a blue state from going through into Senate to then be voted on,” Habba said on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.”
“Senator Booker and Senator Kim had absolutely every right to vote ‘no’ for me for the U.S. Attorney position. But I had the right as the nominee to get if front of Senate and to be voted on, to be vetted. I never even got there,” Habba told host Maria Bartiromo.
Grassley said Monday that the judiciary panel had never received paperwork to process Habba’s nomination.
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