Oh, the “blue slip” — that sweet little Senate relic that somehow manages to carry the weight of law without being a law at all. And now it’s landed squarely in President Trump’s crosshairs, which, if history tells us anything, means its days should be numbered — assuming, of course, the Senate GOP could get its act together. But alas, here we are again watching Republicans clutch their pearls over “tradition” while Democrats laugh all the way to their obstructionist strategy sessions.
Let’s back up for a second. The “blue slip” is a glorified RSVP card sent by the Senate Judiciary Committee to the home-state senators of a nominee for U.S. Attorney or a judicial role. If the senators approve, they check the box, send it back, and the nominee moves forward. If they don’t? Game over. Or worse — they just ghost the committee by not returning the slip at all, and that’s treated like a veto. Mind you, this process isn’t a rule, not a statute, not even a binding Senate procedure. It’s tradition, which apparently is a fancy word for “excuse” when Republicans are in charge.
President Trump isn’t buying the excuse. And really, why should he? He’s trying to get qualified people — including his former personal attorney, Alina Habba — confirmed to key U.S. Attorney posts, but Democrats like Cory Booker and Andy Kim in New Jersey have used the blue slip like a bureaucratic paper shredder. They didn’t like the nominee, so they just torched the process. And now, Habba’s out, the administration is bogged down in courts, and the message is loud and clear: if the Senate doesn’t kill the blue slip, Democrats will keep using it as a sabotage weapon.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump sounds the alarm Senate Republicans and Chuck Grassley are allowing Democrats to BLOCK his judge and US attorney nominations through the “blue slip tradition”
END IT.
“f they say no, then it is OVER for that very well qualified Republican candidate.… pic.twitter.com/oFeAYTq4UH
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 11, 2025
Enter John Thune, the new Senate Majority Leader. Trump’s calling on him to pull the plug on this “scam,” as he put it in his Truth Social post. Seems reasonable. He’s the leader, and his party runs the show. But Thune, in a very on-brand display of Senate hand-wringing, shrugged and said, essentially, “Eh, I don’t see anything changing.” Even added that there are Republicans who support the blue slip. Of course there are. There are always a few who prefer polite losing over aggressive winning.
And then there’s Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who apparently believes it’s his sacred duty to protect Senate customs like a museum curator instead of pushing through qualified nominees. Trump rightly called it “shocking” that Grassley still supports the blue slip. But this is the same Grassley who recently suggested the president was somehow going around the judiciary by simply trying to appoint attorneys to vacant posts. Excuse us, Chuck — the only thing being “gone around” here is the Constitution, by Democrats gaming a fake rule to block the executive branch from functioning.
Let’s not forget: during Trump’s first term, Lindsey Graham — love him or hate him — changed the blue slip policy when he was chair. He said one senator’s approval was enough. That’s the kind of pragmatic leadership that actually gets results. But now we’ve got a Judiciary Committee being held hostage by its own nostalgia, and a Majority Leader who seems more interested in avoiding conflict than in standing up to a procedural hack job.
🚨BREAKING: President Trump blasts Senate GOP and Chuck Grassley for honoring the blue slip tradition, letting Dems block U.S. Attorney nominee Alina Habba and others.
Result: Seven U.S. Attorneys will soon be forced out because Republicans won’t act.pic.twitter.com/tog9VdX6aE
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) December 8, 2025
Trump isn’t just upset about his picks being blocked — he’s highlighting a systemic failure. There are 93 U.S. Attorney districts, and this little blue piece of paper is being used to freeze out nominees across the board. That’s not democracy. That’s dysfunction. And if Republicans don’t wake up and realize they’re being played by a rule that they have the power to end, they’re going to keep losing — even when they technically have the majority.
So yes, it’s time to toss the blue slip into the dustbin of history, right next to the idea that Democrats will ever extend the same courtesy to Republican presidents. Trump sees it clearly. The base sees it clearly. The only question now is whether Senate Republicans will finally stop tripping over their own traditions and actually govern like they mean it.
