The then president of the judiciary, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), cited Democrats ‘delays when he dismissed the nominees to district courts in 2017, while preserving the home state senators’ prerogative to oppose those nominated to the district court. But the issue has been a point of contention since then, especially as Senate Republicans have confirmed 54 court judges as part of a broader march to reshape the federal bench with new conservative nominations.
Democrats have returned the blue cards to more than 85 nominees to the district court in the past four years, noted the Democratic committee adviser – a high number that leaves the new majority optimistic that the Republican Party would take a similar approach. The sliding process often gives disproportionate power to senators from the opposite White House party who represent states with seats in federal courts, giving them the authority to reject the president’s choices.
Three of the 50 Republican senators currently represent states that Biden won in November: Susan Collins of Maine, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania,
“Our expectation is that Republicans will also act in good faith and work with the Biden government to fill vacancies in district courts in the red and purple states,” said the aide.
Durbin’s decision to keep blue papers for nominees to the district court is not necessarily final and may change if vacancies for district courts accumulate. (There are currently 54 vacancies.) But for now, it promises to frustrate progressives who want to see the tradition completely finished.
“I think [blue slips] must be discarded. I think they should be discarded for circuits, as well as districts, ”said Christopher Kang, chief adviser to Demand Justice, a liberal judicial defense group.
“You are ending with two avenues of justice, where Americans who live in a state represented by a Republican senator may have very different judges from one who lives in a state represented by Democratic senators from the home state,” he added.