Alina Habba — whose appointment as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor was ruled to be unlawful by a federal judge on Thursday — is going after two GOP senators who are helping to block her from the job.

Speaking with Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures, Habba called out Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) over their defense of the “Blue Slip” rule — which dictates that the senators representing the home state of a judicial nominee can effectively block that nominee, if they choose. New Jersey Democrats Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Andy Kim have used the rule to keep Habba from getting the job in New Jersey.

Grassley is concerned that if Republicans were to scuttle the rule now, it will work against them down the road when a Democratic president is in office. Habba is taking umbrage with that stance.

‘This tradition that Senator Grassley is upholding effectively prevents anybody in a blue state from going through into the Senate to then be voted on,” Habba said.

Bartiromo then pressed Habba about Tillis.

“What do you want to say about Senator Tillis, Thom Tillis, a member of the Judiciary Committee who has stated publicly that if Chairman Grassley tried moving a district judge or US attorney through the Judiciary Committee without a blue slip, he would oppose that nominee? Bartiromo asked. “And that means we would not even have the votes to pass a nomination like Habba out of committee because Tillis would vote no — along with the Democrats.”

“It’s not surprising,” Habba said. “You know, they’re trying to look at this as they all need to get along to go along. But they’re not looking at what this does. The president was rightfully voted in by a majority of Americans, and he is entitled to pick his U.S. Attorneys, his Department of Justice officials, his judges, so that we can continue the agenda that the American public voted for — which is to get rid of crime.”

Blue slip proponents would surely note that while Trump did win nationally (by a plurality, not a majority — as Habba claimed), the president did not win the state of New Jersey.

Watch above, via Fox News.

The post Alina Habba Rips Two GOP Senators for Keeping Her Out of NJ Prosecutor Job Via ‘Blue Slip’ Rule: first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/9R4I0nl