Crapo and Risch want White House meeting on judicial vacancy

BOISE (AP) — Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch this week sent a letter to the White House requesting a meeting about Idaho’s federal district judge vacancy, saying it “cannot be filled” without a “mutual agreement” between them and the administration.

But the “blue slip” procedure they referenced — a system that gave home-state senators a veto over federal judicial nominees — was thrown out during the Trump Administration, when federal judges were appointed over objections from Democratic senators.

"“The blue slip procedure regarding filling United States District Court vacancies is alive and well,” the two senators wrote in a Nov. 2 letter to Dana Remus, counsel to the president, the Idaho Press reported.

Idaho's top Democratic elected officials submitted an all-female list of four nominees to the White House in March, but there's been no further word on the nomination since. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill took senior status in August, making Idaho eligible for another judge. The nominees are Idaho Falls attorney DeAnne Casperson; Boise attorney Keely Duke; Boise attorney Deborah Ferguson; and former U.S. Attorney for Idaho Wendy Olson.

Idaho is one of just three states with only two U.S. district judges; it hasn’t gotten an additional judgeship in 60 years, though its caseloads have soared. Wyoming, with less than a third of Idaho’s population, has three district judges. So does Montana, with less than two-thirds of Idaho’s population.