Schumer to Block Clayton as Top US Prosecutor in Manhattan (2)

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he plans to block the nominations of Jay Clayton and Joe Nocella as US attorneys in the offices with jurisdiction over New York City and its suburbs, setting up a potential showdown on the fate of the customary home state approval of federal prosecutors and trial judges.

Senate custom for vetting US attorney and district court nominations requires support from home-state senators, conveyed through the return of a document known as the “blue slip,” which Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Wednesday he will withhold.

“Donald Trump has made clear he has no fidelity to the law and intends to use the Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney offices and law enforcement as weapons to go after his perceived enemies,” Schumer said in a statement. “Such blatant and depraved political motivations are deeply corrosive to the rule of law and leaves me deeply skeptical of the Donald Trump’s intentions for these important positions. For that reason, I will not return the blue slip for the U.S. Attorney nominees for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.”

Clayton, who led the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first term, would effectively serve as sheriff of Wall Street as US attorney for the Southern District of New York, which encompasses Manhattan, the Bronx, and several counties north of New York City. Nocella, who has served as a state judge on Long Island, is Trump’s choice to lead the Eastern District of New York, which encompasses Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island.

Blue Slips

The move could prompt Senate Republicans, who during Trump’s first term eliminated mandatory home-state support for circuit court nominees, to eliminate it for nominees to lead the federal prosecutors offices in 94 federal court districts.

After Trump’s reelection, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, indicated he planned to maintain the blue slip process. His spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday, after Schumer’s announcement, that the Judiciary Committee “has long honored the traditional blue slip process for U.S. Attorney nominees.”

Progressives had pressured Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to ignore blue slips when he chaired the committee under President Joe Biden in order to get more district court nominees confirmed in states with Republican senators.

Delaying Tactics

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who serves on the Judiciary committee, had already said he plans to put a hold on Ed Martin’s nomination to be US attorney in Washington, which would force Republicans to move it through a slower process.

Martin, who defended participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, has drawn heightened scrutiny from Democrats and former prosecutors who have questioned his fitness to lead the largest US attorney’s office.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) used a similar tactic to cause months-long delays in the confirmations of Biden’s US attorney nominees by objecting to the traditional quick consideration usually afforded such nominees over his unrelated objections to the Justice Department’s handling of Black Lives Matter litigation.