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Grassley 'offended' by Trump jabs over Senate process for judicial nominees • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-07-31
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is defending a century-old process used for appointing federal judges after President Donald Trump criticized him and Senate Republicans for keeping it in place.
Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media website, Tuesday that Grassley “could solve the ‘Blue Slip’ problem we are having with respect to the appointment of Highly Qualified Judges and U.S. Attorneys, with a mere flick of the pen.”
The “blue slip” process has been used in the Senate Judiciary Committee since at least 1917 to give senators the ability to weigh in on U.S. circuit and district court nominations from their home states, signing off on the nominees using a piece of blue paper before they can advance. If the senators do not sign off, they can effectively block the nominee from being appointed.
Trump said the process has caused “ironclad stoppage of Great Republican Candidates” from Democrat-led states like California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. Because of this process, the president said, he has to nominate a Democrat or “a weak and ineffective Republican” for these positions in order for their appointment to advance.
“Senator Grassley must step up, like Crooked Joe Biden did, when he openly broke, at least two times, the “Blue Slip” SCAM, and like others have done over the years, and let our Great Republican Judges and U.S. Attorneys BE CONFIRMED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He should do this, IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective. The Democrats have broken this ridiculous custom on us, it’s time that we break it on them. Chuck, I know you have the Courage to do this, DO IT!”
But in Wednesday’s Judiciary Committee meeting, Grassley said he was “surprised” by Trump’s comments. While “the people in real America don’t care about what the ‘blue slip’ is,” the process is something that deeply impacts their state’s judicial systems, he said.
“I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults,” Grassley said.
A spokesperson for Sen. Grassley’s office released a statement saying Grassley, as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has used the process to advance nominees from states represented by Democrats in the U.S. Senate.
“Chairman Grassley has already successfully moved U.S. Attorneys through committee who have received blue slips from Democrats, including Senators Warner and Kaine of Virginia and Klobuchar and Smith of Minnesota,” the spokesperson said. “When a nominee comes out of committee all 100 senators have a say on the nomination and part of their consideration is based on the home state senators’ input.”
Democrats have also defended the process. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, who chaired the committee during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, had also resisted 2023 calls from to end the “blue slip” process so more nominees could be appointed. Durbin, now ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, thanked Grassley for also defending the custom, saying “I hope it continues to be the case.”
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