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President Donald Trump on Monday threatened a lawsuit over the Senate’s century-old “blue slip” tradition that he says makes it “impossible” for him to appoint a judge or U.S. attorney.
Trump made the comments to reporters in the Oval Office while signing executive orders regarding the elimination of cashless bail policies.
“We’re also going to be filing a lawsuit on blue slipping,” Trump said. “You know, blue slips make it impossible for me as president to appoint a judge or a U.S. attorney because they have a gentlemen’s agreement that’s about 100 years old.”
The blue slip, which is the practice of having a state’s senators give their approval for nominees for positions in their state like federal judges and U.S. attorneys, is a long-standing tradition but not a codified law. Constitutionally, the president has the power to nominate while the Senate ultimately approves or rejects that nomination.
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Trump said that “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 in particular.”
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Trump’s frustration with the Senate’s blue slip practice isn’t new. In July, he called the tradition a “hoax” and a “scam” used by Democrats to block his nominees, and demanded that Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, stop supporting them.
Grassley has defended the century-old process, saying he views it as a norm worth preserving for balance and state input.
Trump on Sunday blasted the tradition, telling Grassley in a social media post that he should tell Democrats to “go to HELL” over using blue slips to block his nominees.
In his first term, Trump was able to appoint 234 federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices and 54 appellate court judges. However, this term he has only confirmed five in the first seven months.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Shaw contributed to this report.
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