Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of the Senate’s most senior Republicans, reportedly issued a pointed response Wednesday to President Donald Trump after the president criticized him on Truth Social for refusing to scrap a long-standing Senate custom known as the “blue slip.”
Trump, frustrated by Democratic obstruction of judicial nominees, called on Grassley to use his authority as a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee to unilaterally end the tradition.
The “blue slip” rule allows home-state senators to approve or block judicial nominees before they proceed through the Senate confirmation process — a tool Democrats have wielded to slow or derail appointments from Republican presidents.
“He should do this, IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective,” Trump posted. “The Democrats have broken this ridiculous custom on us, it’s time that we break it on them. Chuck, I know you have the Courage to do this, DO IT!”
The message, which reflected growing conservative frustration with Senate Republicans’ reluctance to match the Democrats’ procedural aggression, appeared to strike a nerve with Grassley.
“I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the blue slip,” Grassley said at the outset of a Judiciary Committee hearing.
“Now the people in the real America — not here in this Washington D.C., an island surrounded by reality — the people in real America don’t care about what the blue slip is. But in fact, it impacts, in their states, the district judges who serve their communities and the U.S. Attorneys who ensure the law and order is enforced.”
Grassley, who has long defended Senate norms, framed the criticism as unwarranted and personal. “I was offended by what the President said. And I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults,” he added.
The exchange highlighted a growing divide between institutional Republicans and the populist base that continues to rally behind Trump.
While Grassley has been a loyal conservative voice throughout his career, his reluctance to discard Senate traditions — even when Democrats discard them — has put him at odds with the increasingly aggressive stance taken by Trump-aligned Republicans.
For many in the conservative base, the blue slip rule has become a symbol of Republican deference to norms that Democrats ignore when it suits them.
As Trump put it, the refusal to respond in kind signals weakness at a time when decisive action is needed to confirm “highly qualified judges” and restore law and order in Democrat-run states.
Whether Senate Republicans heed the call — or stick to protocol — remains to be seen.
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