GOP/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, reiterated his authority to handle judicial nominations Wednesday [10-11-17], after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would end the practice of securing home-state senators’ approval before advancing judicial nominees.
Mr. McConnell (R., Ky.) told The Weekly Standard he would no longer honor the practice of requiring ‘blue slips’ from senators, which ensures that lawmakers of both parties must approve a president’s judicial nominees from their states.
Mr. Grassley (R., Iowa), without directly contradicting Mr. McConnell’s announcement, suggested that would be up to him…
Mr. McConnell for months has been signaling that he planned to be aggressive in filling judicial vacancies with President Donald Trump’s nominees. Over the August recess, Mr. McConnell told Kentucky Republicans he was filling federal-appeals-court vacancies all across the country with young conservatives similar to recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The blue-slip ritual get its name from the color of the form that home-state senators use to sign off on judicial nominees. Withholding these blue slips has traditionally ended the hopes of potential nominees.”
-Siobhan Hughes, “Top Republican Resists McConnell’s Plan to Expedite Judicial Nominations,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 11, 2017 06:52pm