On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump called for Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to eliminate what Trump called the “‘Blue Slip’ SCAM,” a Senate tradition that gives home-state senators a veto power over some presidential nominees who wield power entirely within the senator’s state. Trump posted about his opposition to blue slips on Truth Social, his personal communications platform.

The blue slip is an informal Senate tradition, named after the blue pieces of paper that senators use to indicate whether they approve of a judicial or US attorney nominee for their own state. The practical effect of a senator’s decision to oppose such a nominee varies wildly depending on who serves as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. But, in recent years, senators of both parties have used the blue slip process to veto people nominated to serve as top federal prosecutors and as district judges, the lowest rank of federal judge who receives a lifetime appointment.

What triggered Trump’s call to end the blue slip process?

Trump’s call to eliminate blue slips comes just one week after the temporary appointment of Alina Habba, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers, as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey expired.

Federal law permits Attorney General Pam Bondi to temporarily appoint US attorneys for up to 120 days. Once that clock runs out, however, the same law allows federal district judges within the same judicial district to replace the attorney general’s choice. Habba’s appointment expired last week, and New Jersey’s federal judges picked Desiree Leigh Grace, a career prosecutor, to replace her.

Bondi then claimed that Grace “

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