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Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell walked back his announced intention to eliminate a longtime tool of bipartisanship in the Senate by doing away with blue slips — something that Republicans used and abused in order to block former President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees during his time in office. McConnell had told The Weekly Standard on Tuesday that he planned on removing the importance of blue slips, rendering them as a symbolic gesture as opposed to a procedural mechanism. But McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, told HuffPost on Wednesday that the Republican Party did not intend on eliminating blue slips. The blue slip is not a rule...

Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), the Senate Majority leader, has heard our demand for action and reform. He has just removed an archaic procedural rule that has been misused by the left to block conservative federal judicial nominees from ever getting a vote—or even a hearing. It is called the Senate “blue slip,” but you will not find it in the Constitution. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives a clear and efficient procedure for nomination and confirmation of judges: “He [the President] shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint…other public ministers...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley doesn't intend to make changes to Senate procedures that could make it easier for President Donald Trump's judicial nominees to be confirmed more quickly, despite calls from powerful voices inside and outside the Capitol to do so. The veteran Iowa Republican is under pressure to ditch the chamber's "blue slip" tradition that permits members of the minority party to have significant input into which judicial nominees are confirmed. "The Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will determine how to apply the blue slip courtesy for federal judicial nominees, as has always been the practice," said...

There was much in the news yesterday about Mitch McConnell ditching the blue-slip procedure in the Senate. But it's all smoke and mirrors McConnell is trying to fool conservatives and halt the donor backlash. Regarding blue-slips, McConnell will defer to Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, who will keep the blue-slip procedure (see story link below) so Mitch can say "wasn't me!" However, McConnell will not get rid of the 30-hour cloture debate rule, which is the REAL cause of delay within the Senate. From the Weekly Standard article (link below): The so-called “30 hours rule”—which provides for 30 hours of debate...

This may seem like an abstruse parliamentary maneuver -- and it is -- but Mitch McConnell just escalated the judicial wars in a minor but meaningful way. If frustrated conservatives want the GOP Senate majority to " start acting like one ," McConnell's decision eliminates a lever Democrats have been using to stymie some of President Trump's judicial picks. In that sense, he's very much acting like a majority leader; a Democratic one. Try not to let your eyes glaze over as you read the details of this move, which involves dramatically reducing the power of so-called "blue slips"...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley's office said Wednesday he is reviewing the chamber's "blue slip" tradition, after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to eliminate the tool used to block judicial nominees. "The chairman of the Judiciary Committee will determine how to apply the blue slip courtesy for federal judicial nominees, as has always been the practice," said Taylor Foy, Grassley spokesman, in an email to the Washington Examiner. "Over the years, chairmen have applied the courtesy differently, but the spirit of consultation has always remained." Under the Senate's blue slip procedure, a state's senators are consulted by the White...

The GOP leader may not personally be a fan of blue slips, but he’s not getting rid of them, says his spokesman. WASHINGTON ― Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will continue to honor the blue slip rule ― an arcane but hugely consequential Senate tradition that lets lawmakers block a president’s judicial nominees from their home states ― even though a news article suggested he would get rid of it, his spokesman said. The Weekly Standard reported Wednesday that McConnell said in an interview that Democrats would no longer be allowed to use the rule to deny some of...