After a series of court defeats, the White House and Senate Republicans came under sharp criticism for not getting key prosecutorial appointments completed. Now it appears that the finger-pointing will continue for longer than the solutions.
The Department of Justice lost indictments against James Comey and Letitia James over the status of Lindsey Halligan. Donald Trump appointed Halligan first as an interim US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Pam Bondi later tried to make her a “special attorney” to cure the expiration of that status under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act (FVRA). Those dismissals are being appealed, but Trump and Bondi still want to ‘cure’ the issue by having Halligan confirmed to the post by the US Senate, as M-SNOW reports:
The White House is quietly moving to get the U.S. Senate to confirm Lindsey Halligan as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, MS NOW has learned.
Without any White House announcement or fanfare, Halligan submitted her confirmation questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. MS NOW obtained a copy of Halligan’s questionnaire. …
The push for confirmation comes after a federal judge dismissed indictments that Halligan secured against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey, ruling that she was improperly appointed by President Donald Trump and lacked the legal authority to prosecute anyone.
Better late than never, one supposes, but this is very, very late. The EDVA US Attorney position is a key appointment, given its proximity to DC and federal government interests. This position should have been a priority for the nomination and confirmation processes, which might have avoided the embarrassment in federal court earlier this month. The position in New Jersey from which Alina Habba recently withdrew may have been a slightly lower priority, but with nearly a year having passed, that also hardly shines glory on Republicans on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
There is one problem, however, with getting both of these nominations across the finish line: the blue slip. The Senate blue slip allows senators from states where the appointment exists to object to confirmation. This tradition has had varying rules over the century-plus of its existence, but generally any nominee to which both senators object will get stalled by the Senate Judiciary Committee, especially when the president fails to “consult” either or both. Even with Republican Chuck Grassley in charge of the committee, the refusal by Senate Democrats holding all of the seats from Virginia and New Jersey means that these nominations and others will likely remain bottled up.
Donald Trump vented his frustration with this tradition earlier today on Truth Social:
“Blue Slips” are making it impossible to get great Republican Judges and U.S. Attorneys approved to serve in any state where there is even a single Democrat Senator. If they say no, then it is OVER for that very well qualified Republican candidate. Only a really far left Democrat can be approved. It is shocking that Republicans, under Senator Chuck G, allow this scam to continue. So unfair to Republicans, and not Constitutional. I am hereby asking Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a fantastic guy, to get something done, ideally the termination of Blue Slips. Too many GREAT REPUBLICANS are being, SENT PACKIN’. None are getting approved!!! President DJT
Will Senate Republicans go along with Trump’s demand? So far, the answer is no, and for reasons that parallel the debate within the GOP on the filibuster. Thune, who got called out by name in Trump’s post, argues that the process allowed Republicans to block some truly egregious nominations during the Joe Biden regency and is now the only check left after Harry Reid’s nuclear option on judicial and prosecutorial appointments:
Thune isn’t budging on this — Republicans used this to block Biden judges and want that ability in the future
“A lot of our Republican senators care deeply about having input into this process, particularly when there’s a Democrat in the White House … there are many… https://t.co/Yjv5SwbC4f
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) December 11, 2025
“A lot of our Republican senators care deeply about having input into this process, particularly when there’s a Democrat in the White House … there are many Republican senators, way more Republican senators, who are interested in preserving that,” he says this morning
Jake Sherman hears the same thing from the rest of the caucus:
Senate Republicans haven’t moved an inch on this or the filibuster. This has been Trump shouting into the void. https://t.co/ODoFMj9oSS
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) December 11, 2025
It’s not a “shouting into the void” exercise, but rather an accountability debate. To some extent, both the White House and Senate Republicans are to blame. Trump could have gotten Habba and Halligan confirmed easily in a jurisdiction with at least one Republican senator. With the blue slip issue already well known, Trump could have at least offered a “consultation” with Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Cory Booker, and Andy Kim to give Grassley cover to get these two nominees past the blue-slip obstruction. At this point, though, Trump has to hope that Grassley and Thune can use some sort of procedural magic to proceed to a vote.
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