Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice, said it has been the exception when the blue slip tradition hasn’t been followed during the past 10 to 15 years.
He cited a period under Mr. Bush when Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican and then-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he didn’t always take the blue slips into account for nominees because Democrats were abusing the process.
“There’s always sort of this tension going on, and somehow they work it out and save the blue slip,” said Mr. Levey. “I kind of suspect that’s going to happen again.”
Mr. Levey said there is no hard and fast precedent on what qualifies as consultation.
“If you seem like you’re sincerely getting input from the senators, I think that counts as consultation,” said Mr. Levey. “I don’t think it’s fair to say there was no consultation just because a senator didn’t get their favorite...”
Read more in The Washington Times.