Thom Tillis Is Causing Problems for the Trump Administration Again

Alina Habba’s interim appointment as the US Attorney for New Jersey is dying on the vine. Why? The blue slip tradition is keeping her nomination from reaching the Senate floor for a full vote. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, are using the slip to block her. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) isn’t keen on bucking this institutional mechanism, and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who recently called it quits around the reconciliation vote, vowed also to support the blue slip hold on Habba (via Politico):

Alina Habba is heaping more pressure on Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to revoke the chamber’s blue slip tradition, which New Jersey’s two Democratic senators wielded to stop her from getting a floor vote for the post of U.S. attorney in the state.

Trump had nominated Habba, whom he tapped on an interim basis in March, for the full-time appointment. But Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim used blue slips — which empower home-state senators to block U.S. attorney and District Court judge nominees — to keep her from advancing in the chamber.

And Grassley, despite pressure from the White House, isn’t planning on curtailing that power anytime soon.