Acting US Attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, suggested tonight that Chuck Grassley is trying to block her nomination with the ‘blue slip’ tradition.
Here’s what she said:
In case you aren’t familiar with the ‘blue slip’ tradition, it’s a courtesy where senators from a state get a say on federal judicial nominees and US attorneys for their state. If the state’s two senators don’t like the nomination, in this case Habba, it can stall or kill the nomination. New Jersey has two Dem Senators and they hate her because she was Trump’s attorney.
Grassley made clear, as Judiciary committee chairman, he’s not going to stop using the tradition despite Trump asking him to do so. And I think this is exactly what could doom Habba’s nomination.