Above, a 1917 blue slip.
Don't
say we didn't warn you, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told Democrats at a
rocky Senate Judiciary meeting last week. When Democrats blew up the
225-year-old judicial confirmation rules in 2013, Grassley said they'd regret
it. Now, four years later, the Left is finding out just how right he was.
Sure, clearing the way for a simple majority to
rubber-stamp the president's judges seemed like a good idea at the time. But
now that the shoe is on the other foot, liberals suddenly find themselves on
the wrong side of the same process they manipulated. Donald Trump certainly
doesn't mind. He's been filling bench vacancies at lightning speed, shattering
records set in much less partisan times. Now, left without the only weapon that
could stop a confirmation, the filibuster, Democrats are grasping for anything
to put the brakes on this high-speed train of nominees.
What they've settled on is a century-old
tradition born out of common courtesy: the blue slip. Dating back to 1917, if a
president nominated someone to the Senate, committee chairmen would send an
evaluation form of sorts to the person's home-town senators. They could return
it, signaling their willingness to hold a hearing, or withhold it -- usually
grinding the progress on that nomination to a halt.
Desperate for leverage, liberal senators like
Al Franken (Minn.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), and Tammy Baldwin
(Wisc.) have tried to use these blue slips as the obstructionist method du
jour. There's just one problem: the practice has never been an official Senate
rule. Instead, it's more of a gentlemanly agreement to give deference to the
two leaders who may know the person in question best. So while senators have
taken to withholding their blue slips in protest, there's nothing stopping
Senator Grassley from moving forward without them.
Last Thursday, he promised to do just that. The
longtime conservative announced to his colleagues that his patience has
officially run out. "As I've said all along, I won't allow the blue slip
process to be abused. I won't allow senators to prevent a Committee hearing for
political or ideological reasons... The Democrats seriously regret that they
abolished the filibuster, as I warned them they would. But they can't expect to
use the blue slip courtesy in its place. That's not what the blue slip is meant
for."
The tradition was never created, Grassley went
on, to be a home-state veto. And after Thanksgiving, he refuses to
treat it like one. When the Senate flies back from turkey day, the Iowa
Republican has already announced his plan to move on Eighth and Fifth Circuit
Court nominees David Stras and Kyle Duncan. "I'll add that I'm less likely
to proceed on a district court nominee who does not have two positive blue
slips from home state. But circuit courts cover multiple states. There's less
reason to defer to the views of a single state's senator for such
nominees."
For President Trump, Grassley has been a
perfect partner in accomplishing what most voters agreed was one of their
biggest priorities: reshaping the federal judiciary. "When the history books
are written about the Trump administration, the legacy will be the men and
women confirmed to the trial bench," Senator Ted
Cruz (R-Texas) explained. And when that happens, some of the credit
will almost certainly belong to leaders like Chuck Grassley.
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