{"id":2477780,"date":"2025-08-22T16:53:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alina-habba-blames-grassley-for-stalling-senate-nomination-with-blue-slip-judicial-tradition-amid-new-jersey-court-battle\/"},"modified":"2025-08-22T16:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T20:54:54","slug":"alina-habba-blames-grassley-for-stalling-senate-nomination-with-blue-slip-judicial-tradition-amid-new-jersey-court-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alina-habba-blames-grassley-for-stalling-senate-nomination-with-blue-slip-judicial-tradition-amid-new-jersey-court-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Alina Habba blames Grassley for stalling Senate nomination with \u2018blue slip\u2019 judicial tradition amid New Jersey court battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falina-habba-blames-grassley-for-stalling-senate-nomination-with-blue-slip-judicial-tradition-amid-new-jersey-court-battle%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2477780&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Alina Habba,the acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, has criticized Senator Chuck Grassley for stalling her confirmation as the state&#8217;s permanent chief prosecutor due to his adherence to the Senate &#8220;blue slip&#8221; tradition. This tradition allows home-state senators to effectively block judicial and U.S. attorney nominees by withholding approval, despite it not being a formal law. Both New Jersey Democratic Senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim oppose Habba&#8217;s nomination, effectively blocking her confirmation in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Grassley, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, refused President Donald Trump&#8217;s request to eliminate this tradition, citing its bipartisan history. Habba argued that Grassley&#8217;s actions,along with opposition from Booker and Kim,have unfairly hindered the approval process for many of the president&#8217;s judicial nominees,including herself.<\/p>\n<p>Habba was first appointed to her interim role in March 2025 and nominated for the permanent position in July 2025. However, due to senate delays, the decision fell to New Jersey&#8217;s U.S. District Court judges, who blocked her appointment and named desiree Leigh Grace as the new chief prosecutor. The Trump management swiftly removed Grace, accusing the judges of political interference and exceeding their authority.<\/p>\n<p>To navigate this legal conflict, the White House withdrew Habba&#8217;s Senate nomination and appointed her as &#8220;first assistant,&#8221; enabling her to continue serving in an interim capacity. A federal judge later ruled the administration&#8217;s maneuver unlawful, asserting Habba had been serving without proper authority as July 1. The Department of Justice vowed to appeal and defended Habba&#8217;s work in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p>Habba vows to continue fighting the legal challenges, condemning what she describes as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/populist-coalition-orban-le-pen-morawiecki-vow-to-defend-national-sovereignty-from-eu-overreach\/\" title=\"Populist Coalition: Orban, Le Pen, Morawiecki Vow to Defend National Sovereignty from EU Overreach\">politically motivated attacks<\/a> from judges and senators and emphasizing respect for presidential appointments. <br \/> <!DOCTYPE html><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Alina Habba blames Grassley for stalling Senate nomination with &lsquo;blue slip&rsquo; judicial tradition amid New Jersey court battle<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2185385\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3777750\/judges-ruling-against-alina-habba-tees-up-constitutional-clash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alina Habba<\/a> blamed Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/chuck-grassley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chuck Grassley<\/a> (R-IA) on Thursday for some of her struggles to keep her job due to his refusal to end a bipartisan tradition on judicial nominees.<\/p>\n<p>Habba said during an appearance on Fox News that Grassley had helped stall her nomination &ldquo;by holding up a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/schumer-blocks-trumps-top-prosecutor-picks-for-new-york-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Schumer blocks ...\u2019s ... for New York - Washington Examiner\">traditional blue slip<\/a>, not a law, and not allowing a lot of the president&rsquo;s picks to go through and be voted on by Senate.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3779211\/doj-sends-first-round-epstein-records-house-oversight\/\">DOJ sends first round of Epstein records to House Oversight Committee<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3779209\/ghislaine-maxwell-trump-never-inappropriate-doj-interview\/\">Ghislaine Maxwell said Trump was &lsquo;never inappropriate with anybody&rsquo;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3779179\/kilmar-abrego-garcia-released-custody-maryland\/\">Kilmar Abrego Garcia released from custody, en route to Maryland<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3486453\/blue-slips-judicial-nominees-trump-grassley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blue slip<\/a>&rdquo; refers to a practice that allows senators from the minority party to essentially veto nominees for U.S. attorney and district court judges from their home state. Because both of the state&rsquo;s Democratic senators &mdash; Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Andy Kim (D-NJ) &mdash; oppose Habba&rsquo;s nomination, it was doomed for failure due to the power of the blue slips.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Grassley<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3486342\/trump-insults-chuck-grassley-blue-slips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> holds power<\/a> over changing the blue slip policy and advancing judicial nominations, including Habba, whom President Donald Trump tapped to be New Jersey&rsquo;s permanent chief prosecutor last month.<\/p>\n<p>Grassley drew Trump&rsquo;s ire last month when he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3485805\/trump-grassley-blue-slip-confirmation-appointees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">refused the president&rsquo;s request<\/a> to do away with the Senate Judiciary Committee&rsquo;s blue slip tradition. The president argued Democrats have used the provision to block &ldquo;Great Republican candidates.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Habba&rsquo;s nomination has now become mired in court battles amid the Senate process, leading her to blame Grassley, Booker, and Kim for holding up her confirmation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I was the nominee to become the U.S. attorney. And Cory Booker and Andy Kim &mdash; who I have never, to this day, spoken to in my life, despite my attempts to meet them &mdash; have truly, truly done us a disservice,&rdquo; Habba said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And frankly, same with Sen. Grassley by holding up a traditional blue slip, not a law, and not allowing a lot of the president&rsquo;s picks to go through and be voted on by Senate,&rdquo; she added. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t even get to that point.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&rdquo;[They] have truly done us a disservice by &hellip; not allowing a lot of the president&rsquo;s picks to go through and be voted on by [the] Senate,&rdquo; she concluded.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Habba was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3356794\/trump-lawyer-alina-habba-us-attorney-new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first appointed<\/a> to the position on an interim basis in March. On July 1, roughly three weeks before her 120-day term was set to end on July 26, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3460970\/trump-nominates-alina-habba-us-attorney-new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nominated her to serve<\/a> in the capacity on a permanent basis.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Confirmation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >full-time appointment required approval<\/a> either by the Senate or New Jersey&rsquo;s U.S. District Court judges. As the Senate continued to stall judicial nominations, the matter went to the district court, where judges on July 22 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3478711\/alina-habba-replaced-top-prosecutor-new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blocked Habba&rsquo;s appointment<\/a> and named Desiree Leigh Grace as the state&rsquo;s new full-time chief prosecutor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Habba now attacking Grassley on Fox: I was the nominee to become the U.S. Attorney and Cory Booker and Andy Kim, who I&#8217;ve never spoken to have truly done us a disservice and frankly the same with Grassley, by holding up a traditional blue slip, not a law, and not allowing a lot&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/8fo3yu25UH\">pic.twitter.com\/8fo3yu25UH<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Acyn (@Acyn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Acyn\/status\/1958704413339730401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Trump administration, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3479196\/doj-fires-alina-habba-replacement-desiree-leigh-grace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> promptly removed<\/a> Grace from office, accusing &ldquo;politically minded&rdquo; judges of &ldquo;threatening the President&rsquo;s core Article II powers.&rdquo; Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche alleged the judges&rsquo; actions amounted to a &ldquo;backroom vote&rdquo; and that they were &ldquo;colluding&rdquo; with New Jersey lawmakers in an attempt to &ldquo;override the authority of the Chief Executive.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Days later, Bondi<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3481572\/alina-habba-acting-us-attorney-new-jersey\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> announced a technical workaround<\/a> to the legal disputes that hinged on the White House withdrawing her Senate nomination and appointing her &ldquo;first assistant,&rdquo; a position that allows her to essentially remain New Jersey&rsquo;s interim lead prosecutor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3777750\/judges-ruling-against-alina-habba-tees-up-constitutional-clash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> ruled <\/a><span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3777750\/judges-ruling-against-alina-habba-tees-up-constitutional-clash\/\" target=\"_blank\">that the Trump administration&rsquo;s maneuvering<\/a>&nbsp;exceeded legal bounds and&nbsp;<\/span>that she had been serving without legal authority since July 1.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bondi pledged to appeal Brann&rsquo;s ruling, praising Habba for doing &ldquo;incredible work in New Jersey,&rdquo; and to &ldquo;protect her position from activist judicial attacks.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) walks from the Senate chamber as Senate Republicans vote on President Donald Trump&rsquo;s request to cancel about $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting spending, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/3382059\/chuck-schumer-blocks-trump-top-prosecutor-picks-new-york\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SCHUMER BLOCKS TRUMP&rsquo;S TOP PROSECUTOR PICKS FOR NEW YORK<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Habba pledged to battle to the end.<\/p>\n<p>&rdquo;We will not fall to rogue judges, we will not fall to people trying to be political when they should just be doing their job: respecting the president,&rdquo; she said during her Fox News interview.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Habba blames Grassley for blocking her Senate nomination<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":2477781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/grassley.-.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[33520,61810,52583,61811,61809],"class_list":["post-2477780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-alina-habba","tag-blue-slip-tradition","tag-grassley-2","tag-new-jersey-court-battle","tag-senate-nomination"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/grassley.-.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2477780"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2477784,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2477780\/revisions\/2477784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2477781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2477780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2477780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2477780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}