Sen. Wayne Allard said Thursday he is withholding approval of federal judicial nominee Christine Arguello because Sen. Ken Salazar won’t approve the nomination of Philip Brimmer.
Allard won’t sign Arguello’s “blue slip,” a recommendation signed by a home-state senator and sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee that signals approval of a candidate.
The White House has nominated Arguello, managing senior associate counsel at the University of Colorado; Gregory Goldberg, a private attorney and former federal prosecutor; and Brimmer, special prosecutions chief at the U.S. attorney’s office for Colorado.
The Judiciary Committee cannot go forward with hearings on a candidate until the blue slips are returned.
On Wednesday, Allard’s spokesman denied that Allard was holding Arguello’s blue slip to secure a confirmation hearing that included Brimmer.
Salazar won’t sign Brimmer’s blue slip solely because Brimmer was not selected by Salazar’s bipartisan judicial panel that was assembled in January.
Brimmer is rated the highest out of the three candidates by the American Bar Association.
