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The Senate on Wednesday confirmed a controversial nominee to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals over the objections of both home-state senators. Senators voted 52-45 on Kenneth Lee's nomination to the influential appeals court, giving President Trump his 40th circuit judge since taking office. Lee's confirmation came despite neither Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, nor Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 presidential contender, returning a blue slip on his nomination. The blue-slip rule — a precedent upheld by Senate tradition — has historically allowed a home-state senator to stop a lower-court nominee...

The Senate on Wednesday confirmed President Trump ’s pick for an influential circuit court despite neither home-state senator returning a blue slip. Senators voted 54-42 on Joseph Bianco’s nomination to serve as a judge for the second circuit. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Doug Jones (Ala.) voted with Republicans to confirm him. Bianco’s confirmation comes despite neither Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) nor Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) returning a blue slip on his nomination. He is Trump’s 38th appeals judge to be confirmed. Bianco was confirmed unanimously to serve as a district court judge in 2005 but his...

The Senate is set to escalate a long simmering fight over President Trump's judicial nominees. Republicans are poised to confirm a pick for the influential circuit courts next week without the support of either of the nominee's home-state senators—a first for the Trump era. Eric Miller is the first appeals judge to get a vote on the Senate floor this year, and the 31st of Trump’s presidency. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up an initial vote on his Ninth Circuit nomination for Monday evening. “The judicial train is running in the committee and it will soon hit the floor,”...

Senators returned to Washington Tuesday and immediately picked up where they left off — processing President Trump’s judicial nominees, over the objections of Democrats. The Judiciary Committee held a hearing for Paul B. Matey, nominated to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and for four district court picks. Mr. Matey’s nomination is particularly controversial because it marks another round in the fight over Senate traditions and courtesies and their abuse in the era of Mr. Trump. Mr. Matey is slated to fill a seat on the appeals court that’s traditionally ascribed to New Jersey. But that state’s senators, both...

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee blasted the White House Thursday for picking nominees for the West Coast’s appeals court without consulting her, and saying one of the three doesn’t have any judicial experience. President Trump named a new slate of court picks Wednesday, including three judges to sit on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California objected, saying she had tried to consult with the White House but was rebuffed. She said she would withhold her blue slip, in a signal that she doesn’t acquiesce to the picks. Blue slips are a...

President Donald Trump should give special thanks to two U.S. Senators this Thanksgiving weekend. One is still serving in the Senate, the other recently retired. One is a Republican. The other a Democrat. And what should President Trump be thanking them for? Quite simply they have handed him one of the biggest victories any president could claim in the past 45 years. Yes, this has happened even as one of the most widely covered stories of the past year has been President Trump's difficulties in working with Congress. The growing rift between him and Republican Senators John McCain, Jeff Flake,...

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...

Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley is ready to move forward with President Donald Trump’s appellate judicial nominees, even when home-state senators have formal objections. Grassley is going to move ahead with confirmation hearings for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras to be a judge on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Politico reported ahead of a formal announcement by the chairman. “The Democrats seriously regret that they abolished the filibuster, as I warned them they would,” Grassley said on the Senate floor Thursday. “But they can’t expect to use the blue slip courtesy in its place.” Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.,...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to nix the blue slip for two of President Trump’s judicial picks, sparking a showdown with Democrats over nominations. Grassley announced on Thursday that he has scheduled Nov. 29 hearings for David Stras, Trump’s nomination to be an appellate judge on the 8th Circuit, and for Kyle Duncan, nominated to serve the 5th Circuit. “Today I’m announcing that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing for two circuit court nominees, each of whom has one home state senator who has not returned a blue slip containing a positive endorsement,” Grassley said from the Senate...

Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), the Senate Majority leader, has heard our demand for action and reform. He has just removed an archaic procedural rule that has been misused by the left to block conservative federal judicial nominees from ever getting a vote—or even a hearing. It is called the Senate “blue slip,” but you will not find it in the Constitution. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives a clear and efficient procedure for nomination and confirmation of judges: “He [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint…other public ministers...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley doesn't intend to make changes to Senate procedures that could make it easier for President Donald Trump's judicial nominees to be confirmed more quickly, despite calls from powerful voices inside and outside the Capitol to do so. The veteran Iowa Republican is under pressure to ditch the chamber's "blue slip" tradition that permits members of the minority party to have significant input into which judicial nominees are confirmed. "The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will determine how to apply the blue slip courtesy for federal judicial nominees, as has always been the practice," said...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley's office said Wednesday he is reviewing the chamber's "blue slip" tradition, after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to eliminate the tool used to block judicial nominees. "The chairman of the Judiciary Committee will determine how to apply the blue slip courtesy for federal judicial nominees, as has always been the practice," said Taylor Foy, Grassley spokesman, in an email to the Washington Examiner. "Over the years, chairmen have applied the courtesy differently, but the spirit of consultation has always remained." Under the Senate's blue slip procedure, a state's senators are consulted by the White...

The GOP leader may not personally be a fan of blue slips, but he’s not getting rid of them, says his spokesman. WASHINGTON ― Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will continue to honor the blue slip rule ― an arcane but hugely consequential Senate tradition that lets lawmakers block a president’s judicial nominees from their home states ― even though a news article suggested he would get rid of it, his spokesman said. The Weekly Standard reported Wednesday that McConnell said in an interview that Democrats would no longer be allowed to use the rule to deny some of...

The leaders of several conservative groups called Wednesday for Mitch McConnell to step down as Senate majority leader, arguing the Kentucky Republican and the rest of his team should be ousted from their posts because they have not implemented the conservative agenda they promised. “We call on all five members of the GOP Senate leadership to step down, or for their caucus to remove them as soon as possible,” Ken Cuccinelli, the former attorney general of Virginia who now leads the Senate Conservatives Fund, said at a Wednesday press conference on Capitol Hill.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer put pressure Wednesday on the GOP chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to retain the “blue slip” process that could give Democrats a path to scuttle some of the president’s judicial nominees. Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, told Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the chairman, to resist calls to de-prioritize the blue slip process — including suggestions from the Senate’s top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell. “The Senate has fewer and fewer mechanisms that create bipartisanship and bring people to an agreement. The blue slips are one of them,” said Mr. Schumer in a press release...

This may seem like an abstruse parliamentary maneuver -- and it is -- but Mitch McConnell just escalated the judicial wars in a minor but meaningful way. If frustrated conservatives want the GOP Senate majority to " start acting like one ," McConnell's decision eliminates a lever Democrats have been using to stymie some of President Trump's judicial picks. In that sense, he's very much acting like a majority leader; a Democratic one. Try not to let your eyes glaze over as you read the details of this move, which involves dramatically reducing the power of so-called "blue slips"...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is weighing into a looming fight over judicial nominees, saying an obscure Senate rule shouldn't be used to block some judicial nominations. "My personal view is that the blue slip, with regard to circuit court appointments, ought to simply be a notification of how you're going to vote, not the opportunity to blackball," Mr. McConnell told The New York Times. The Senate's "blue slip" practice-which isn't a rule but a tradition enforced by the Judiciary Committee chairman-allows home states senators to sign off on a judicial nominee on actual blue slips of paper before the committee holds a...

Four of President Trump’s judicial nominees cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday as Republicans sought to make headway on the long list of vacancies in the federal courts. Two of the nominees cleared easily while the other two were approved on party-line votes, after Democrats accused them of making controversial political blog posts in the past. John Kenneth Bush, Mr. Trump’s nominee for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Damien Michael Schiff, his pick for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, both posted on a range of topics including slavery, abortion and gay rights. Sen. Patrick Leahy,...

<p>WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans Wednesday singled out Michigan's two senators for their "abuse" of the so-called "blue-slip" policy that allows senators from a nominee's home state to block nominations if they object to the candidates.</p> <p>Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow have negatively filled out blue slips, the blue-colored papers on which senators submit their approvals or denials of nominees. The negative blue slip means the Senate Judiciary Committee can't hold a hearing on President Bush's judicial choices for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>