Politics
Chuck Grassley Under Fire For Refusing To Advance Key Trump Nominees
Two of President Donald Trump’s nominees for U.S. attorney posts have hit a significant roadblock.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said Monday he would not move forward with the nominations of Jay Clayton and Joseph Nocella Jr. after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) withheld support. Earlier this month, Schumer announced he would not return his blue slip for Clayton’s nomination to the Southern District of New York or Nocella’s to the Eastern District.
The blue slip tradition, while not a formal Senate rule, grants home-state senators significant influence by allowing them to block nominees for U.S. district courts and U.S. attorney positions.
Asked directly whether Schumer’s move meant the nominations would be halted, Grassley made it clear: “We’re going to honor the blue slip,” according to Politico.
Clayton (right) conveys his desire to see an increase in the number of companies that go public.
Jay Clayton, who previously chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission under Trump’s first administration, had been nominated to lead the Southern District of New York—a high-profile jurisdiction that handles some of the nation’s most sensitive financial and political cases.
Before joining the SEC, he was a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, and regulatory matters. His legal work included major deals, such as Barclays’ acquisition of Lehman Brothers’ assets during the 2008 financial crisis. As SEC Chairman, Clayton focused on protecting retail investors, modernizing outdated regulations, and addressing new risks, such as digital assets and cybersecurity threats.
Joseph Nocella Jr., a Nassau County district court judge appointed in 2022, had been tapped to oversee the Eastern District of New York, which includes Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island. Nocella has over three decades of legal experience, including a stint as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1991 to 1995, during which he handled racketeering and fraud cases.
He later worked in private litigation practice and held various municipal legal roles, such as Town Attorney for Oyster Bay and Hempstead, as well as Chief of Staff to the Hempstead Town Supervisor. In 2022, he was appointed and later elected as a Nassau County District Court Judge, also serving in Family Court.
Joseph Nocella Jr.
Schumer made clear he had serious reservations about the selections, particularly regarding Trump’s intentions for the Justice Department.
“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 to The New York Times earlier this month. “Such blatant and depraved political motivations are deeply corrosive to the rule of law and leaves me deeply skeptical of Donald Trump’s intentions for these important positions.”
Grassley’s move to respect Schumer’s withholding of the blue slips stands in contrast to past episodes where Senate leaders, particularly during judicial confirmations, have opted to advance nominees despite objections from home-state senators. However, for U.S. attorney positions—which are seen as law enforcement roles rather than purely judicial ones—the tradition has remained stronger.
Clayton’s nomination, in particular, drew scrutiny due to the sensitivity of the Southern District of New York’s caseload, which has historically included investigations involving Wall Street, major corporations, and political figures. As the nominations stall, the future of the leadership posts in New York’s two central federal districts remains uncertain.
