Townhall.com
Anna Timmis
July 11, 2017

The Democratic Senate has been slow to confirm the federal judicial nominees chosen by the president, withholding "blue slips" from the Judiciary Committee that would allow them to elect judges. The White House Press Office shared a Washington Post briefing of the situation, calling it an “obstruction alert”. The Democrats’ reluctance to submit the slips slows the process of nomination, frustrating the Judiciary Committee.

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the RNC, said, "Senate Democrats are using every weapon in their arsenal to delay President Trump's nominees and ignore the will of the American people."


The “blue slip” is a tradition that allows senators to give advice concerning prospective judges from their home states. The two senators write their opinions of that nominee on the slip or withhold it altogether. If both senators object to the appointee, either by writing or withholding, the Judiciary Committee can be blocked from appointing the judicial nominee.

While withholding the slips has slowed down the progress of the majority, it is not strictly required to appoint a judge. According to the Washington Times, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Judiciary Committee chairman, might change the practice for the circuit court nominees. In a May interview with The Hill, he said that are "more exceptions to the blue-slip rule," at the circuit court level.

According to an unnamed official of Trump’s administration, the White House has tried to involve senators early on in picking nominees:

“The administration has been seeking consultation from home-state senators for months – even as senators frequently fail to return our calls, don’t respond to our inquiries and otherwise avoid our constant overtures.”

Senators who have not returned the blue slips to the committee include Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA,) Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Al Franken (D-MN), as well as Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Gary Peters (D-MI).

In an email, Max Steele, spokesman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, defended Sen. Casey's unresponsiveness on Third Circuit nominee Stephanos Bibas: "Before launching these absurd attacks, Republicans should get their basic facts straight. Mr. Bibas' paperwork was received by the Senate Judiciary Committee late last night and only forwarded on to Senator Casey's office this morning ..." Steele later writes that the senator "will continue to evaluate candidates as the administration puts their names forward."

The Trump official said of the justices under consideration, “These are consensus picks who would receive unanimous support if offered by any other administration.”

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Easy. If they don't want to play by the rules, change them. When they get back in power (and they will) they will not hesitate to do the same.

The democrats are obstructionists because the republicans let them be. This has gone LONG past just being an oposition party who still plays by the rules to outright trying to shut the will of the people down for political gain. Democrats don't give a rats ass about the country or its people.

hold a hearing, if the dems don't show, hold a vote and push them through

blue slips are a tradition only and as obstructionists, take away a tradition and get the appointments you need

they're going to blow up and cry foul anyways, so grow some balls and just do it

there are consequences to losing an election, and if the republicans don't start doing their job, they may well find out there are consequences to winning as well

tired of the bullshit

These are traditions and courtesies, so if those Senators are not going to use them as they are intended by long usage, then to hell with them. Vote them through anyway.

Each task I have to complete that is work related usually say something like "Please have this completed by COB on Friday".

There are no adults in charge there to say, "Look, you have till Friday or we are moving on without you"?

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
These are traditions and courtesies, so if those Senators are not going to use them as they are intended by long usage, then to hell with them. Vote them through anyway.

Indeed!

Time to stop all this asinine bickering and get down to doing their damned jobs!!

Its easy to say "just do your job," but these little courtesies are the source of power.

Patronage and control of who gets these jobs is very important. A President will not appoint someone to a judgeship who has not been recommended by the senior Senator of the President's own party in that state. Jobs for the boys, and all that.

In a state like Whackyland, where neither Senator is from the President's party, the Senators expect that no one will be nominated who is obnoxious, objectionable, to them. They know they won't get their guys nominated, but at least hope to prevent their worst enemies from getting jobs. The President can ignore them, but that is considered poor manners, not soon forgotten when a vote is needed.

Similarly, any Senator can delay a vote. You don't ignore that without paying a price, sooner or later.

since when did a Democrat play by the rules?

when is the last time a Democrat was courteous when the cameras weren't rolling

Heck, most of them aren't even courteous now when the cameras ARE rolling! The time has come to just run the steamroller over them.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
These are traditions and courtesies, so if those Senators are not going to use them as they are intended by long usage, then to hell with them. Vote them through anyway.

This!

Men quit honoring the traditions of sacrificing a virgin to the volcano gods once they figured out it wasn't being honored. This 'blue slip' tradition is being systematically abused. Quit honoring it!

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Its easy to say "just do your job," but these little courtesies are the source of power.

Patronage and control of who gets these jobs is very important. A President will not appoint someone to a judgeship who has not been recommended by the senior Senator of the President's own party in that state. Jobs for the boys, and all that.

In a state like Whackyland, where neither Senator is from the President's party, the Senators expect that no one will be nominated who is obnoxious, objectionable, to them. They know they won't get their guys nominated, but at least hope to prevent their worst enemies from getting jobs. The President can ignore them, but that is considered poor manners, not soon forgotten when a vote is needed.

Similarly, any Senator can delay a vote. You don't ignore that without paying a price, sooner or later.

I agree, and also understand the reciprocal nature of these things.

The article makes it seem as if some of the Dems are now withholding approval of any and all nominees, and not just those who are specially obnoxious. If that is true, then they have broken with tradition to start with.

It is hard to tell whether the reporter is getting it right or is overly partisan in the way the story is reported.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
Its easy to say "just do your job," but these little courtesies are the source of power.

Patronage and control of who gets these jobs is very important. A President will not appoint someone to a judgeship who has not been recommended by the senior Senator of the President's own party in that state. Jobs for the boys, and all that.

In a state like Whackyland, where neither Senator is from the President's party, the Senators expect that no one will be nominated who is obnoxious, objectionable, to them. They know they won't get their guys nominated, but at least hope to prevent their worst enemies from getting jobs. The President can ignore them, but that is considered poor manners, not soon forgotten when a vote is needed.

Similarly, any Senator can delay a vote. You don't ignore that without paying a price, sooner or later.

I agree, and also understand the reciprocal nature of these things.

The article makes it seem as if some of the Dems are now withholding approval of any and all nominees, and not just those who are specially obnoxious. If that is true, then they have broken with tradition to start with.

It is hard to tell whether the reporter is getting it right or is overly partisan in the way the story is reported.

I believe in the past, quite a few votes were not strictly party lines. Now Crying Chuck has gotten them voting en masse mostly, so the tradition may be evolving.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
It is hard to tell whether the reporter is getting it right or is overly partisan in the way the story is reported.

You've said a mouthful there.

knowing UpChuckie Schumer and his band of idiots, you want to give him the benefit of the doubt or simply assume that its just the same old same old they've been doing since 1PM on January 20th?

The politics of the past are just that, the past. Democrats do not and will not honor any tradition that stands in the way of their ultimate goal, and that is power. Look how many had to be silenced for speaking out of turn and violating senate rules. Rules? Democrats don't believe in them. They have NO respect for tradition or rules. It's time the republicans learned that this is a real fight, not some romantic parley. The democrats already know this and are acting accordingly. The republicans quite honestly are born to lose because they are afraid to fight.

quote:

Originally posted by flashguy:
Heck, most of them aren't even courteous now when the cameras ARE rolling! The time has come to just run the steamroller over them.

flashguy

I disagree. I think a Cat self-propelled vibratory compactor would be better. Preferably a sheepsfoot version, but a base roller or even an asphalt roller would be acceptable. I do understand that the smooth drum would facilitate cleanup...

quote:

Originally posted by mbinky:
The politics of the past are just that, the past. Democrats do not and will not honor any tradition that stands in the way of their ultimate goal, and that is power. Look how many had to be silenced for speaking out of turn and violating senate rules. Rules? Democrats don't believe in them. They have NO respect for tradition or rules. It's time the republicans learned that this is a real fight, not some romantic parley. The democrats already know this and are acting accordingly. The republicans quite honestly are born to lose because they are afraid to fight.

I think the GOP feels they score points with voters for being the reasonable party. Whatever the reason, they have never felt particularly fond of playing hardball like the Democrats. As a result, they often get steamrolled. Compare and contrast the extent to which the Obama agenda played out even with a GOP-majority in Congress with the brakes that the democrats have put on the Trump agenda with a minority in Congress. It helps that the Democrats have the media 100% on their side to cover for them and demonize the GOP at every turn. In fact, I think that the GOP would have a very tough time using the same tactics that the Democrats do because the media would relentlessly portray it as obstruction or worse.

The GOP is in a tough position, but they just have never proven themselves very adept at the whole politicking game. I think part of the problem is that the GOP caucus is not nearly as conservative as they want us to believe. They are more than happy to go along with the Democrats on many issues.

the GOP won the trifecta back in November and they still haven't figured it out

the democrats are still calling the shots....

so who really won?

if we did, all we won was the Presidency - we've not reaped any benefit for putting the GOP in the majority...

what else could they want?

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
These are traditions and courtesies, so if those Senators are not going to use them as they are intended by long usage, then to hell with them. Vote them through anyway.

Yep. The only thing holding up these nominees are cowardly Repub's unwilling to play hard ball with the Dem's. Give 'em a week to respond and then move on. this is not rocket science for god sake.

Trouble is that the Repubs are dumb enough to let this tactic work....