FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on artificial intelligence at the "Winning the AI Race" Summit in Washington D.C., U.S., July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura/File Photo
President Donald Trump's demands for Senate Republicans to back off on longstanding rules and traditions about nominees could be bad news for the GOP in the long run, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote in an analysis published Monday.
Specifically, Trump wants senators to eliminate the "blue slip" requirement for district court judges and U.S. attorneys, which is the requirement that the nominees have the consent of the senators from their state. A number of Trump's nominees have been too controversial to pass this bar, like his former personal attorney Alina Habba, who was removed as acting federal prosecutor in New Jersey by local judges over her lack of qualifications.
"Rather than extend Ms. Habba, who has made herself controversial, the judges issued an order to elevate the office’s first assistant prosecutor, Desiree Grace, to be the U.S. Attorney," wrote the board. "The Trump Administration responded with bureaucratic jiu jitsu. The White House terminated Ms. Grace. Ms. Habba resigned as interim U.S. Attorney, and her nomination to the Senate was withdrawn. The Justice Department instead named Ms. Habba as a 'special attorney,' while designating her as the New Jersey office’s new first assistant. Voilà, under the vacancy law, according to the Administration, Ms. Habba is back in charge as acting U.S. Attorney."
A Republican federal judge recently ruled she has been unlawfully in office for weeks, as Trump has ramped up his own war on Senate Republicans, like Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), for refusing to loosen blue slip rules.
"The worry is that such machinations might become routine to evade Senate confirmation," the board wrote. And if that happens, Democrats could use it again when they have the presidency: "The blue-slip tradition serves Republicans when they’re out of power, and it tends to encourage Presidents to pick qualified and scrupulous lawyers for these posts."
"By trying to circumvent it, including his maneuvers for Ms. Habba and his demands for recess appointments, Mr. Trump is setting a precedent that could come back to bite Republicans.