January 06, 2007

Senate Judiciary Changes Its Rules on Judicial Nominations

They are going back to the old system.

U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this week that both senators from a state, regardless of party affiliation, will have to concur with a nomination before a nominee will even be considered by his committee.

"Sen. Leahy will abide by the blue-slip policy as he did the last time he was chairman," Tracy Schmaler, Leahy's spokeswoman, said Thursday.

The so-called "blue-slip" policy allows senators to delay a vote on nominations for months if not years by indicating their objections on a piece of blue paper. The rule was eliminated by GOP leaders in 2003, allowing GOP nominees to make it through committee despite objections from Democratic senators.

Posted by armand at January 6, 2007 01:11 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Law and the Courts


Comments

the merits of the blue slip policy itself can be debated, but i think it's really interesting that the dems are not standing on the GOP policy now that it would redound to their advantage. overall, i think it reflects well on the dems, even if the blue slip tradition itself (which, incidentally, derailed the nomination of one of my mentors to the 3d circuit, so it's not like i'm a fan) reflects poorly on the GOP.

Posted by: moon at January 6, 2007 11:20 PM | PERMALINK

I'm not much of a fan of the blue-slip policy either, though (to be honest) there are issues that seem more important (Iraq, Afghanistan, budget, deficit). That being said, the moves by the Dems in their first week back are much more conciliatory than the Reps were. This speaks well of them. We'll just have to wait and see if they can sustain them when there is more political pressure.

Posted by: baltar at January 7, 2007 12:28 AM | PERMALINK
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