You hear a lot about the Senate filibuster, but not as much about another pesky little tradition that allows senators to gum things up in the chamber: the blue slip.
While the filibuster lets senators extend floor debate in an effort to prevent a bill from coming to a vote, the blue slip lets them put the kibosh on certain federal nominees (think district court judges, U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals) in their home state, thus preventing those nominations from coming to a vote.
Why is this important? Because the use of the blue slip tradition – despite Republicans holding the majority in the Senate – is currently derailing President Trump's efforts to place some of his most high-profile nominees into key roles in blue states. And having prosecutorial power in states run by Democrats, particularly those of the most corrupt kinds, gives the president an important check on the left's agenda.
Take, for instance, Alina Habba, the president's former personal defense attorney who was tapped earlier this year to be U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Her job status and title changes on the regular as the Trump administration fights to keep her in her role despite various courts ruling that she is "disqualified" from the gig.
On Monday, as RedState reported, a three-member panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit said that a lower court ruling was correct when it disqualified Habba from serving as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor. The panel further concluded that the Trump administration’s attempts to keep Habba on the job would "effectively [permit] anyone to fill the U.S. Attorney role indefinitely," and that "this should raise a red flag."
READ MORE: Lawfare Strikes Again: Judges Derail Trump’s Pick, Force Habba Out of Top Prosecutor Role in NJ
The reason Habba has been ping-ponging between being the Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Special Attorney to the U.S. Attorney General (for District of New Jersey), and First Assistant U.S. Attorney is because her nomination to be considered for the permanent role as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey hasn't ever made it to the Senate.
And that's because Democrats Cory Booker and Andy Kim are the Garden State's senators. Using the blue slip privilege, they've, of course, nixed Alina Habba ever becoming their state's U.S. Attorney. It's unlikely they'll give their approval to any of President Trump's nominees, which leaves us where?
Don't look to Senate Republicans for any answers on how to break the stalemate, as they mostly seem wedded to keeping the blue slip tradition alive and well. President Trump has called the tradition "old and outdated," and urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to abandon the practice.
“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.”
For his part, Grassley has declined to take the president's advice. "The president has a right to not go along with what the judges want," Grassley said a few months back. "It’s going around the fact that all U.S. attorneys are being held up here. You’re talking about a universal problem that we have in all 93 districts, not just in New York and New Jersey."
Following Monday's ruling on Habba, it's clear that many of Grassley's Republican colleagues share his zeal for the blue slip. “It’s proved to be very useful in previous administrations by Republicans when we were in the minority,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said. And Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) added, "I support Sen. Grassley and his support of the blue slip. I’d like to see the preservation of it."
Grassley spokesperson Clare Slattery summed things up this way: "U.S. Attorney and district judge nominees without blue slips don’t have the votes to get through committee or pass on the Senate floor."
It should be pointed out, of course, that Republicans have used the blue slip tradition in the past to prevent leftists from getting their nominees through the Senate. Like the filibuster, its worth all depends on who wields the power ... and who doesn't.
How this all plays out when it comes to the president getting his people into key positions of power in blue states is anyone's guess, but one thing is for sure: Donald Trump has proven time and again to be a creative problem solver. He's more than willing to bypass The Swamp to get his way, so it's a good bet we haven't heard the last of Alina Habba and her nomination.
