Democrats Just Lost One Of The Only Ways They Could Block Trump's Judicial Nominees

buzzfeed.com ^ | 11/16/17 | Zoe Tillman

[cotton1706]

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley will schedule a hearing for a federal appeals court nominee that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken had been trying to block through an informal system known as the blue slip process.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced Thursday that Democrats will not be able to block President Donald Trump's judicial nominees through an unofficial senatorial courtesy system known as the "blue slip process," saying he will hold hearings on some nominees even if both home state senators haven't given their approval.

Grassley's move will get rid of one of the few obstacles the Trump administration has faced in getting judges confirmed. Trump nominees who have made it out of committee have all been confirmed so far by the Republican-controlled Senate, and with 145 vacancies pending and more opening up soon, Trump is poised to leave his mark on the judiciary early on in his first term.

Under the blue slip process, some, but not all, chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee would not schedule hearings unless both home state senators returned forms — historically on blue sheets of paper — signaling their approval. At the start of the year, Grassley indicated he was still following this practice, delaying hearings for some nominees until Democrats returned their blue slips.

But on Thursday Grassley announced on the Senate floor that he would schedule a hearing for Nov. 29 for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras, nominated for the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken had announced in September that he would not return his blue slip for Stras, saying in a statement that he was concerned that Stras "would be a deeply conservative jurist in the mold of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia."

[ez]

Yes, I didn’t read in the Constitution where individual Senators should have veto power over the President’s judicial picks. Just a straight up or down vote by the entire body.