Trump to sue over blue slips, challenging Senate tradition

President Donald Trump renewed his challenge to the Senate’s blue slip tradition on Monday, signaling a potential legal challenge to a practice he argues is unconstitutional and hampers his ability to appoint judges and U.S. attorneys. In the Oval Office, he said a lawsuit over blue slips would be filed, arguing the centuries-old custom effectively bars him from filling key posts in states with a Democratic senator. He insisted the process is an informal agreement with no firm legal basis and suggested it could be struck down, while highlighting that in states with at least one Republican senator he could nominate “strong Republican” candidates.

The blue slip tradition dates back more than a century and gives home-state senators a say over nominees for federal judges and U.S. attorneys from their state. While not a law, the practice has become a powerful informal check in the confirmation process: if a home-state senator submits a negative blue slip, committee chairs can pause or block a nomination. Supporters argue the mechanism preserves state input and Senate balance; critics say it has become a partisan weapon that gridlocks confirmations. The custom was most notably...