Senator Chuck Grassley, as head of the Judiciary Committee, has scheduled confirmation hearings for two contested Trump judicial nominees, overriding 100 years of Senate tradition. Donald Trump has already nominated several extremely conservative judges to fill the vacancies in the court system. But he can’t single-handedly push through nominees—the Senate has to sign off on them. There’s a little-known process called “blue slips” that lets individual senators weigh in on the judges nominated to serve in their state. It’s a key part of the checks and balances that protect against absolute power in the hands of the president.
Call your senators. Ask them to publicly urge Chairman Grassley and Majority Leader McConnell to respect the blue slips process, and ask them to do everything in their power to halt proceedings on Stras, Duncan and any other nominees unless both home senators have returned positive blue slips for them. It’s a simple equation: no blue slips = no hearings.