Eliminating the Judicial “Blue Slip”

One of a President’s most important jobs is appointing federal judges. And it’s not just Supreme Court Justices that matter. Across the country, hundreds of federal judges decide cases that impact everything from environmental regulations to gun control to reproductive rights. 

But an obscure process called the “blue slip,” allows a single Senator to stop a judicial nomination in its tracks. To explain the blue slip, we have Caroline Fredrickson and Alan Neff. They recently wrote an open letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) urging him to eliminate the blue slip for good. 

Caroline is a Visiting Professor at Georgetown Law and a Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice. Alan recently served as co-editor of Rule of Law This Week for the American Constitution Society and is a former Senior Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago. 

Show Notes 

• Caroline Fredrickson (@crfredrickson) 
• Alan Neff (@AlanNeff)
• Caroline and Alan’s open letter to Sen. Durbin 
• New York Times Editorial Board op-ed advocating for removal of the blue slip process 
• 4:15 Russell Wheeler’s analysis of President Biden’s judicial nominees 
• 13:40 NYU’s American Journalism Online Program
• Music: “The Parade” by “Hey Pluto!” from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/hey-pluto/the-parade (License code: 36B6ODD7Y6ODZ3BX)