President Trump has finally had it with the Senate’s archaic “blue slip” tradition — a procedural relic that lets individual senators torpedo presidential nominees in their home states for no reason other than partisan spite. And he’s right to call it what it has become: a “scam.”
In a Thursday morning Truth Social post, President Trump put Senate Republicans on notice. He urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to end the blue slip gimmick once and for all so his nominees for critical U.S. Attorney posts can finally move through the confirmation pipeline.
Trump didn’t mince words about Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), either. As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Grassley is the one allowing this outdated courtesy to keep blocking the administration’s agenda — and Trump called it “shocking” that Grassley is still letting Democrats weaponize a tradition instead of doing the job voters elected Republicans to do:
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 11, 2025
The process involving blue slips starts in the Senate Judiciary Committee after the president nominates a candidate for a U.S. circuit or district court position. The committee chairman distributes blue slips of paper to the two senators from the state where the vacancy exists, requesting their evaluation of the nominee. If the senators give their approval, they send back the blue slip to the chairman, allowing the nominee to move forward. If the senators oppose the nominee, they either return the blue slip rejecting the nominee or do not return it at all.
The practice is a Senate tradition and is not formally established in the Judiciary Committee’s rules, meaning the chairman is not required to delay or reject a nomination. Thus far, Grassley has upheld this tradition, although one of his predecessors, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), altered the procedure when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee during Trump’s initial term. Under Graham’s leadership, a nominee no longer required consent from both senators of the home state for their nomination to proceed.
The blue slip “privilege” is precisely why Alina Habba — President Trump’s former personal attorney and his pick for U.S. Attorney in New Jersey — was ultimately forced to step aside. Her nomination never even got a fair hearing. Instead, it was torpedoed by New Jersey’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, who used the blue slip tradition to kill her appointment outright.
“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.”
But Trump’s call for action appears to be falling on deaf ears. Senate Majority Leader John Thune went on Fox News Thursday and basically shrugged off the issue, saying he doesn’t expect anything to change. Worse, he openly acknowledged that there are Republicans — both on and off the Judiciary Committee — who support the blue slip privilege, “and support it strongly.”
Sen John Thune to Trump: NO I'm Not Terminating The Blue Slip Tradition
"I don't think it's going to change. It's been in place for a long time. And like I said, there are Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and off the Judiciary Committee, for that matter, who support this… https://t.co/lnHtpdQiPl pic.twitter.com/ehPGOi6xIk
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) December 11, 2025
Despite the blowback from his fellow Republicans, President Trump isn’t likely to drop the matter. He previously told reporters, “This is based on an old custom. It’s not based on a law. And I think it’s unconstitutional. And I’ll probably be filing a suit on that pretty soon.”
