Trump and Republican senators fight over a century-old tradition for judicial nominees

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the Senate’s century-old tradition of allowing home state senators to sign off on some federal judge and U.S. attorney nominees is “old and outdated.” Republican senators disagree.

Trump has been complaining about what's called the blue slip process for weeks and has pushed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to abandon the practice. But the veteran senator hasn’t budged. On Monday, Trump said he may sue, arguing that he can only get “weak” judges approved in states that have at least one Democratic senator.

“This is based on an old custom. It’s not based on a law. And I think it’s unconstitutional,” Trump told reporters. “And I’ll probably be filing a suit on that pretty soon.”

A look at the blue slip process and why Republicans are holding on to it, for now:

It’s unclear who Trump would sue or how such a lawsuit would work since the Senate sets its own rules. And Senate Republicans have been unbowed, arguing that they used the process to their own benefit when Democrat Joe Biden was president. They say they will want the practice to be in place if they are in the minority again.

Republicans also note that judges who don’t receive approval from their home state senators are unlikely to have enough votes for confirmation, anyway.

“In Biden admin Republicans kept 30 LIBERALS OFF BENCH THAT PRES TRUMP CAN NOW FILL W CONSERVATIVES,” Grassley posted on X shortly after Trump’s remarks on Monday.

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican member of the judiciary committee, posted on X that getting rid of the blue slip “is a terrible, short-sighted ploy that paves the path for Democrats to ram through extremist liberal judges in red states over the long-term.”

Republicans “shouldn’t fall for it,” Tillis wrote.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has also defended blue slips, saying in the past that he had used the process himself and worked with the Biden administration when there was a judicial vacancy in South Dakota. “I don’t sense any rush to change it,” Thune said.

The blue slip is a blue-colored form that is submitted to the two home state senators after the president nominates someone to become a district judge or U.S. attorney, among other federal positions that are contained within one state.

The home state senators can individually return the slips with a positive or negative response. If there is a negative response, or if the form is not returned, the chairman of the judiciary panel can choose not to move forward.

Democrats have opposed several of Trump’s nominees this year, including Alina Habba, a nominee for U.S. attorney in New Jersey, and two prosecutors nominated in New York who have been blocked by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

The blue slip tradition has been in place since at least 1918, according to the Congressional Research Service. But like many Senate traditions, it has evolved over the years to become more partisan. Until 2017, at the beginning of Trump’s first term, blue slips were also honored for nominees to the circuit court, which oversee multiple states. But the Republican-led judiciary panel, also led then by Grassley, did away with that tradition.

In the past, the White House has often worked with home state senators as they decide who to nominate. But Trump and Democrats have shown little interest in working with each other.

Trump has focused his ire on Grassley, a longtime ally who is the senior-most Senate Republican. In a July post on social media, Trump called on Grassley to have the “courage” to stop honoring the 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,” Trump posted.

Grassley responded by defending the practice, and he said he was “offended by what the president said, and I’m disappointed that it would result in personal insults.”

Trump revived his complaints this week, culminating with the threat to sue. On Sunday, he posted that "I have a Consultational Right to appoint Judges and U.S. Attorneys, but that RIGHT has been completely taken away from me in States that have just one Democrat United States Senator.”

Even as Republicans have defied Trump on blue slips, they have agreed with him that the nominations process needs to move faster — especially as Democrats have slowed votes on all of his nominees.

Trump and Republicans pressured Senate Democrats to lift some of their holds on nominees ahead of the traditional August recess, threatening to force them to remain in session all month. But the effort was unsuccessful, and the Senate left town anyway, with Trump posting on social media that Schumer can “GO TO HELL!”

After that standoff, Thune said the chamber will consider in the fall Senate rule changes that would make it harder for Democrats to block or slow votes on nominations.

“I think that the last six months have demonstrated that this process, nominations, is broken,” Thune said. “And so I expect there will be some good robust conversations about that.”

Follow the AP's coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump.

FILE - Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, arrives to advance President Donald Trump's nominees for the federal bench, including Emil Bove, Trump's former defense lawyer, at the Capitol in Washington, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

President Donald Trump speaks during an event signing a proclamation honoring the fourth anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Weathers was steamed when he found out he was joining the New York Yankees.

“I had had just finished up my bullpen and I get back to the house — I have like a little travel sauna,” he recalled Thursday. “I literally probably had sat on my couch for about two seconds and I got a phone call from Peter Bendix that I had been traded.”

Bendix, Miami's president of baseball operations, sent the 26-year-old left-hander to New York for four prospects on Tuesday: outfielders Brendan Jones and Dillon Lewis, and infielders Dylan Jasso and Juan Matheus.

Weathers is the son of David Weathers, a pitcher who helped the Yankees win the 1996 World Series after he was acquired from the Marlins at the trade deadline.

“We’ve kind of had a weird, similar paths as to how we got to New York,” Ryan Weathers said.

David was in the Dodger Stadium bullpen when he found out two minutes before the trade deadline he had been dealt to the Yankees. Manager Rene Lachemann called him on the bullpen phone and said Weathers needed to speak with general manager Dave Dombrowski.

“I went in the locker room and Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, John Burkett, Robb Nen, they said, `Hey man, good luck. You're going to win a World Series ring,' and they turned out to be prophetic,” David Weathers said.

David learned his son had been traded while watching a basketball game with wife Kelli at Loretto High School in Loretto, Tennessee, where he has coached baseball.

“One of my friends came up and said, `I think Ryan’s been traded to the Yankees.' And I said: `Well, if he has, I hadn’t heard anything about it,'" David recalled. "We laughed, and about that time my phone started ringing. It was Ryan.”

When Ryan makes his Yankees debut, they will become the fifth father-son duo for the pinstripes, joining Yogi and Dale Berra, Clay and Cody Bellinger, Mark Leiter and Mark Leiter Jr., and Ron Davis and Ike Davis.

Ryan was in shock when he spoke with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone.

“I just couldn’t believe that the New York Yankees were a team that I could ever have a chance to play for," he said.

New York’s rotation at the season's start projects to also include Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Luis Gil while Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón rehab from injuries.

Weathers, 26, was 2-2 with a 3.99 ERA in eight starts last year in his second straight injury-shortened season. He missed time with a strained left flexor, made his season debut on May 14, then didn’t pitch for Miami between June 7 and Sept. 11 because of a left lat strain.

He was 5-6 with a 3.63 ERA over 16 starts in 2024, when he was sidelined by a strained left index finger.

“This is the best I’ve probably felt in a year-and-a-half,” Weathers said. “I really did a dive and worked with company on figuring out how to lengthen my lat out, lengthen my back out. We really adjusted a lot of my lifting patterns. We really adjusted my mobility and my prep work, and I think my arm is reaping the benefits right now.”

Ryan grew up in big league clubhouses and remembered the Cincinnati Reds' room with Ken Griffey Jr. and Joey Votto. He played pickle with Dusty Baker, Ramón Hernández, Eric Milton and Juan Castro.

“There’s been a lot of hours put in the Cincinnati Reds' batting cages,” Weathers said. “I just remember Pops taking me to the field every day. I know when his arm was hurting, he’d still throw me BP.”

Ryan was the seventh overall pick by San Diego in the 2008 amateur draft and made his first big league appearance against the Dodgers in the 2020 NL Division Series — among only six players to make a major league debut in the postseason. His dad's knowledge helped him during tough times.

“When I first started going through it and getting adversity and getting traded, he really helped me along those lines of figuring out: This is what you do with your new team. This was what you do in your day-to-day,” Ryan said. “So I’ve been doing mechanics since I was age 10.”

He has remained close with pitcher Aaron Harang, a teammate of his father who last played in 2015.

“He still texts me all the time,” Weathers said. “When I was younger, I didn’t really care about pitching. I just wanted to hit bombs in the outfield, so I didn’t really think about it.”

For David, pitching in the World Series was less nerve-racking than being in the seats at Ryan's games.

“It’s way tougher being a dad and watching your son pitch than being a pitcher,” David said. “When he pitches, man, it is just like all day, it’s like I’m pitching. I’m thinking about what I would do, how I would attack these guys.”

Notes: New York finalized its $2 million, one-year contract with right-hander Paul Blackburn.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FILE - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Ryan Weathers throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Sept. 24, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)