Why is President Donald Trump posting about the Senate “blue slip” again?
Virginia’s two Democratic senators are likely to block his nomination of Lindsey Halligan as US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to people familiar with the matter.
That means using internal veto power by refusing to return a blue slip that indicates support for a home-state judicial nominee.
Currently, “she does not have a blue slip for either one,” said the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat, Dick Durbin.
Neither Virginia Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine or Mark Warner explicitly confirmed they’ll block Halligan as they seek a nominee they could support; Warner said he’d meet with her but that it would be “very hard” to support her.
And Senate Republicans aren’t eliminating blue slips, despite Trump’s request, because they want input when a Democrat is president, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.