What happened to the practice of "blue slipping"?

[kentuck]

In the past, I recall that Senators on the Judiciary Cmte had the right to stop a judicial appointment simply by putting a "blue slip" against him or her. And this was done without the identitiy of Senator being exposed. I recall that this was done several times during the Clinton years. Some nominees weren't even considered in committee.

If you think about it, it was much more of an obstruction measure than the "filibuster". At least with the filibuster, there has to be some effort to get and maintain the necessary numbers to prevent the nomination from happening. Not so with the "blue slips".

Did the Repubs do away with this practive when they attained hte majority and why? Has anyone else mentioned this practice?

[w13rd0]

1. It's been mentioned...

...many times in the "30 hour blowfest". A fillibuster of one it's been referred to...and yes, the GOP stopped the practice after assuming the majority. They want 100% adherence to the will of the Fraud King.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

2. republicans did away with it...voted to change the rule so dems are using

only tool left to them..."filibuster" God bles our Dems

[nostamj]

3. the ONLY reason Dems have to filibuster

is that ALL others ways to block nominations have been removed by the pukes.

i forget the exact # but 50-60 Clinton nominess NEVER EVEN GOT A HEARING... much less a vote.

[DUreader]

4. 65?

[w13rd0]

5. Don't forget...

...many of those were held up until DEC 15th, 2000...

Gee, what happened on or near that date that precipitated all those nominees, some of whom had been held up or pocketed for YEARS, being pulled "off the table"? I mean, Bush wasn't sworn in yet.

And why ARE all of Bush's nominees members of the Federalist Society? What's up with that?