In recent weeks Alabamians have seen numerous articles appearing across the state that suggest Senator Shelby can single handedly block the appointment of the new Middle District United States Attorney by turning in a blue slip. For this reason I decided to research the Senate Blue Slip to see if this was true and found it was not the truth.

What I found is that the Senate Blue Slip is an opinion written by a Senator from the state of the residence of a federal judicial position nominee such as United States Attorneys. Apparently, both Senators any time there is a new appointment are sent a blue slip to fill out to tell their fellow Senators what they think about the appointment. At that point, they are able to submit a favorable report and opinion or an unfavorable report and opinion of a nominee. They may also choose to not return the blue slip at all. It is then the option of the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine what weight they will give the blue slip when considering whether or not to recommend to the Senate to confirm a nominee. This is considered just a senatorial courtesy. What this is not is a unilateral right for a Senator to be vexatious in the appointment of a judicial position nominee.

In fact, during President Bush’s reign a law professor at Cumberland University in Alabama named Brandon Denny, wrote an article called, “The Blue Slip: Enforcing the Norms of Judicial Confirmation Process”. The article appeared in The Williams and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 10, 2001. In that article Professor Denny very accurately stated, “that the Executive Branch needs to take a more active role in identifying what is perceived to be an abuse of procedure during a confirmation process.” What he meant by that was that we cannot allow Senators to abuse the blue slip process to allow perfectly good nominees to be denied and that the Executive Branch should take active steps to notify the public when a Senator is abusing the procedure of blue slips just to get his way.

It is clear that in Alabama today we have that very situation. Richard Shelby took weeks to object, so we have been told, to Mr. Joe Van Heest. However, the White House has not released what Mr. Shelby put in his blue slip when he objected to Mr. Joe Van Heest. The White House should tell the Democrats in Alabama who helped in electing them what Senator Richard Shelby put in his objection to Mr. Joe Van Heest. If Mr. Shelby is just objecting without having made a formal report then he is clearly perverting the process of the blue slip he should be made to tell why he is objecting and it should be a good reason. This thwarting of the process is allowing a good nominee to be denied all because a Republican Senator is being allowed to run roughshod over the White House.

Surely, President Obama is not going to allow a little senator from Alabama to tell him not to appoint a good candidate who is approved by both Alabama Democrat groups that made recommendations for the appointment.

Additionally, Jeff Sessions supposedly objected to Michel Nicrosi. I am calling for the White House to also see that we are released the reasons in the blue slip for Jeff Sessions opposition to her.

One has to wonder what on earth is going on in the White House. Are they being held hostage from appointing a United States Attorney by two little senators in Alabama from the Republican party? Clearly the news coming out of Washington today that they may appoint Tamara Matthews Johnson is unsettling considering that she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who was a Reagan Republican appointee and was a key member in Alice Martin’s legal team that repeatedly targeted Democrats in political cases .

It is time for all the Democrats in America to call Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, and demand that he take steps to prove to the Democrats in Alabama that the White House is standing up to the two Republican Senators who are abusing the blue slip system to defeat two perfectly good nominees for the United States Middle District. Please tell him we want Obama to push one of these nominees.

President Obama can win this fight even without these two Republican Senators and it is time for him to stand up for the Alabama Democrats that voted for him to see that change is brought about to the United States Middle District of Alabama. For far too long Alabama Democrats have been politically targeted by a small group of Republicans called, “the Alabama Gang” and it is well known that Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions run that gang so there recommendations should mean absolutely nothing. After all it was not the Alabama Republicians who voted for President Obama. In fact they did everything they could to defeat him. The time has come for President Obama to support the Alabama Democrats in their fight against Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions and “the Alabama Gang.”

DANA JILL SIMPSON

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No one in DC is going to put their political career on the line, at least not until the legal process runs its course. There’s a motion for a new trial and an appeal with the Supreme Court still ahead for Siegelman.

Stevens was another case. He was a Republican with clear evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and, perhaps most importantly, several members of Congress willing to go to bat for him in Washington.

Since Davis resigned from the House Judiciary Committee right after the Nov. 2008 election to run for governor, proving he was a card carrying member of the look forward not back camp, he has not been willing to carry the political water to save Siegelman. Besides, if Siegelman were exonerated, either by DOJ dismissing the charges like they did in the Stevens case, or by presidential pardon, Davis might have to face him in a Democratic Party primary in Alabama for governor or Senator.

Davis would deny it, of course, and Siegelman has indicated publicly that he has no interest in running in the future, although privately that might not be the case.

There is little doubt who would win in a race between the two men for public opinion in Alabama, in spite of what you might read in the local chain press or hear on the radio or TV around here.

The Web Press is the place to be, if you want to know what’s really going on, and I’m not talking about anonymous blogs…