Washington Post: Senators prepare for a showdown over judges and ‘blue slips’
This excerpt is from a piece that originally ran on January 30, 2023.
But advocates say Republican senators don’t need to withhold blue slips to exercise a soft veto power over Biden’s picks because presidents typically don’t make judicial nominations if home-state senators haven’t signed off on their picks. Even the threat of not returning a blue slip is enough.
“There are so many seats that will remain vacant and will never have a nominee unless the president decides to really push the issue,” said Rakim Brooks, the president of Alliance for Justice.