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GOP Senator Blocks Judicial Pick Over Transgender Rights

The battle over blue slips heats up.

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Blue Slip

A blue slip (Senate Judiciary Committee via Alliance for Justice).

It looks like the tradition of requiring blue slips, that is, seeking approval for judicial nominees from home state senators, has claimed another victim. Remember Republicans under Donald Trump did away with the process in order to lard up the judiciary with far-right lifetime appointments. But Dems brought it back, and Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is committed to the process… despite the delay it is having on President Biden’s judicial picks.

The latest qualified candidate that may not see his judicial dreams come true thanks to the process is Scott Colom, a Mississippi prosecutor. Colom already has the support of Mississippi Republican senator Roger Wicker, but the state’s other GOP senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith, has reportedly informed the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee she will not return his blue slip. In doing so, Hyde-Smith cited Colom’s “opposition to legislation to protect female athletes,” and links to George Soros.

The deets on those allegations from Law360:

The Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reported after Colom’s election in 2015 that Soros, the billionaire Hyde-Smith cited in her statement, had donated nearly $400,000 to a political action committee that spent in the race, something Colom’s opponent cited at the time as a reason for his loss. Politico reported in 2016 that Colom said he had never met Soros, and did not know about the money until the advertising had begun.

As for Colom’s support for transgender people, in 2021, he signed a letter with other prosecutors in opposition to the “ongoing efforts to criminalize transgender people and gender-affirming health care,” and opposed the use of law enforcement resources on “individuals who use facilities aligned with their gender identity.” However, the letter does not comment on transgender athletes or on Mississippi’s law banning transgender girls from competing on girls teams at their schools.

All of which has intensified the battle over the blue slip tradition.

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“Sen. Hyde-Smith’s outrageous opposition should be a wake up call for anyone who seriously thinks the blue slip does anything but enable Republican extremism and obstruction,” Christopher Kang, chief counsel for the group Demand Justice, said in a statement.

“At this point, Chair Durbin has a choice: reform the outdated blue slip tradition and give Scott Colom a fair hearing and vote, or endorse the worst kind of extreme Republican obstructionism,” Kang said.

The blue slip process has certainly put a damper on Joe Biden’s ability to counter the tremendous influence Trump was able to exert in his one term as president.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @Kathryn1@mastodon.social.

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