Trump pressures Grassley to step up judicial nominations
During the final days of the Biden administration, the Senate went on a tear to push through as many of Biden’s judiciary appointments as possible.
Biden had already stacked the courts with unqualified activist candidates who could not answer basic questions.
We fully expected Trump to hit the ground running here, but the first judiciary appointment was not passed through the Senate until July.
Approved
During Trump’s first term, he went on a blistering pace to get judges through the Senate.
With nothing guaranteed, most of us thought the Senate Judiciary Committee would make judicial appointments a top priority, as well as pass Trump’s key cabinet members for vetting.
However, it was not until mid-July that the Senate got around to confirming Trump’s first judiciary appointment.
Whitney Hermandorfer had the honor of being the first judge approved during Trump’s second term, replacing a former Obama judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Step it up
This week, Emil Bove was also approved, but that is not a quick enough pace for Trump, who is getting frustrated by the grandstanding of Democrats to block appointments.
Trump called out Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a big backer of Trump’s in the Senate, to pick up the pace.
Grassley stated, “Chuck Grassley, who I got re-elected to the US Senate when he was down, by a lot, in the Great State of Iowa, could solve the ‘Blue Slip’ problem we are having with respect to the appointment of Highly Qualified Judges and U.S. Attorneys, with a mere flick of the pen.”
He continued, “Put simply, the President of the United States will never be permitted to appoint the person of his choice because of an ancient, and probably Unconstitutional, ‘CUSTOM.’”
Offended
Grassley is an old-timer, and he did not take kindly to Trump trying to publicly bullying him rather than picking up the phone to discuss this in private.
Grassley responded to Trump’s post, stating, “Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the ‘blue slip.' I was offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults.”
The blue slip rejection is generally honored if both senators from the home state of the nominee reject the nominee. We know Dems will never support Trump appointments, so if the state has two Democrat senators, Trump has virtually no chance of having the nominee pass through this traditional review process.
And by the way, Grassley was never down in polling and did not need Trump’s support to win his election. Grassley won the race 56.1-43.9%, and his seat was never in danger, which is why I am sure Grassley took this as an insult. Grassley does not need Trump, but Trump very much needs Grassley to get these appointments through, so he better be careful here.
