The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Grassley, is not giving in to President Trump’s pressure campaign to kill the Senate’s “blue slips.” Mr. Grassley says he is “offended” that Mr. Trump would come after him for respecting Senate tradition. 

Blue slips are documents signed by members of the Senate that allow federal law enforcement nominees and judicial nominees set to serve in their respective states to move forward in the process. According to the Congressional Research Service, the blue slip consent process is more than 100 years old. 

On Tuesday night, Mr. Trump lashed out at Mr. Grassley on Truth Social just as the Judiciary chairman was shepherding a controversial judicial nominee, Emil Bove, across the Senate floor. 

The president has expressed deep frustration that one of his former personal lawyers, Alina Habba, is not moving through the Senate confirmation process as his nominee for U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Senators Booker and Kim are blocking the nomination by withholding their blue slips. 

“Chuck Grassley, who I got re-elected to the U.S. Senate when he was down, by a lot, in the Great State of Iowa, could solve the ‘Blue Slip’ problem we are having with respect to the appointment of Highly Qualified Judges and U.S. Attorneys, with a mere flick of the pen,’” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday night. 

Mr. Trump said it is time to get rid of the blue slip “SCAM” and “let our Great Republican Judges and U.S. Attorneys BE CONFIRMED.” 

“He should do this, IMMEDIATELY, and not let the Democrats laugh at him and the Republican Party for being weak and ineffective,” the president urged. 

Mr. Grassley was not pleased with the message. On Wednesday morning, he said he was “offended” by the president’s remarks. 

“Last night, I was surprised to see President Trump on Truth Social go after me and Senate Republicans over what we call the ‘blue slip,’” Mr. Grassley said at a Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday morning. “To people in the Real America — not here in 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 the district judges who serve their communities and the U.S. Attorneys who ensure law and order is enforced. 

“I was offended by what the President said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults,” Mr. Grassley said. 

Mr. Trump’s broadside against Mr. Grassley did not end with his words, however. The president began reposting messages from other Truth Social users who were criticizing the Judiciary Committee chairman. 

One message called on fellow Trump supporters to call Mr. Grassley’s office. “What is wrong with these Republicans, they must hate America too,” the user, whose post was shared by the president himself, stated. 

“Grassley is a RINO. HE ALWAYS HAS BEEN. HE’S JUST MUCH MORE SNEAKY AND IS GOOD AT PLAYING THE GOOD GUY INSTEAD BEING THE GOOD GUY,” another post shared by the president reads. 

A former top advisor to Mr. Grassley, Mike Davis, who now leads the Article III Project, says the blue slip problem is more complicated than it appears. He says that to abandon the longstanding Senate tradition, lawmakers would need to vote on a measure to disband the practice. Mr. Davis says a majority of senators oppose such a change. 

“The problem isn’t Senator Chuck Grassley, who is President Trump’s most effective ally in Congress. The problem is there are not 51 Senate votes to get rid of the blue slips for U.S. district court, U.S. attorney, and U.S. marshal nominees,” Mr. Davis wrote in a post on X. 

“So any of these nominees who don’t get blue slips from both of their home-state senators will simply lose on the Senate floor,” he added.