This reform of the filibuster rules will not be fully effective until Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy relaxes or eliminates the Blue Slip Rule. Currently, Chairman Leahy observes a collegial tradition of not giving a federal judicial nominee a committee confirmation hearing or a committee vote unless both Senators from the nominee's home state submit Blue Slips with positive comments to him. Effectively, this means that, unless the Blue Slip rule is relaxed or eliminated, nominees residing in states with at least one Republican Senator will not be given a hearing before the Judiciary Committee nor will they be given a committee vote. It should be noted that, up until 1995, only one Blue Slip was required per state, not two. I am in favor of relaxing the Blue Slip rule to require only one Blue Slip per state. This would allow the Senate to act upon Democratic nominees from states with split Senate delegations.