Political Quotes

“Madam President, in the last several weeks, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the blue-slip courtesy that applies to judicial nominations. I want to take a moment to clarify a few things. My position hasn't changed. Like I said in November of last year, I intend to honor the blue-slip courtesy, but there have always been exceptions. First, the blue slip has always been a Senatorial courtesy. It is premised on the idea that home State Senators are in a very good position to provide insights into a nominee from their State for the Federal judiciary. It is meant to encourage consultation between the White House and home State Senators about judicial nominations. That is why I value the blue-slip tradition and ask for the views of Senators on all nominees to courts from their respective States. Throughout its history, the many chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee have applied this blue-slip courtesy differently. That is a chairman's prerogative. The chairman has the authority to decide how to apply the courtesy. Over the past 100 years, there have been 18 chairmen of the Senate Judiciary Committee who recognized the value of the blue-slip courtesy, but only 2 out of these 18 chairmen required both Senators to return positive blue slips before scheduling a hearing. The practice of sending out blue slips to home State Senators started 100 years ago, in 1917.…”