Recently Senator Al Franken, the liberal, former comedian from Minnesota, made waves when he decided to withhold his “blue slip” on Justice David Stras, who has been nominated for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. In Senate tradition, they can’t move forward on a nominee unless both senators from that person’s home state return their blue slips as a gesture of solidarity. This tradition, however quaint, is also archaic and currently being wielded as a passive-aggressive weapon. It needs to be done away with entirely.
According to the most reliable of sources, Wikipedia, “In the Senate, a blue slip is an opinion written by a Senator from the state where a federal judicial nominee resides. Both senators from a nominee’s state are sent a blue slip in which they may submit a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a nominee. They may also choose not to return a blue slip.”
Not only is this political move rarely used, when it is, it holds up what should be a straightforward, clear process. If both senator’s from a judicial nominee’s home state withhold a blue slip, the Judiciary Committee cannot bring up the nominee at all.
Of course, the blue slip was probably originally meant to provide some sort of checks and balances — assuming that home state Senators would know more about the quality and character of a nominee and thus their opinion should carry more weight. Now, it’s clear the blue slip is merely reminiscent of a scene from a kindergarten lunch table: Instead of the boy and girl trading Oreo’s for Snickers, the boy gives the girl his Oreo’s and receives nothing in return.
Scott Cottington lives and has been working in Minnesota as a political consultant for several years. When I asked for his opinion, as an observer of politics and Minnesotan he told me on the phone, “This is partisanship pure and simple. If you look at what Franken did to Gorsuch, between Gorsuch and Stras, he’s being intellectually so dishonest and he’s doing it for partisan posturing purposes.”
The Judicial Crisis Network launched a digital and TV ad targeting Senator Al Franken’s refusal to return his blue slip for Justice David Stras, given his impeccable qualifications. It will run in Minnesota for two weeks, no doubt hoping constituents will feel compelled to contact Franken and pressure him to return his blue slip. Franken is obviously trying to maintain gridlock and obstruct the confirmation a highly qualified, competent judicial nominee.
Carrie Severino, Chief Counsel and Policy Director of the Judicial Crisis Network said in a press release, “Justice David Stras earned more votes and a higher percentage of the vote statewide than Senator Al Franken did. Franken is trying to block the Judiciary Committee from even reviewing Justice Stras’s sterling record and his refusal to return the blue slip for Justice Stras is unacceptable. By not returning his blue slip, Senator Franken is choosing Washington politics over the people of Minnesota.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is so fed up with the blue slip process he told The New York Times this week that he thinks the process of submitting a “blue slip” should be canned when it comes to circuit court nominations, but kept in place for district court judges. This would “eliminate Democrats’ only leverage against President Donald Trump’s picks to the nation’s second-highest courts.” McConnell said, “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.”
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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