senatorial courtesy

American  

noun

1. the practice in the U.S. Senate of confirming only those presidential appointees approved by both senators from the state of the appointee, or by the senior senator of the president's party.

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Etymology

Origin of senatorial courtesy

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Example Sentences

Both say that Chairman Cash should have allowed them to exercise their senatorial courtesy to speak outside of public comment and reasonably exceed the two-minute limit.

From Salon • Nov. 17, 2025

The blue-slip tradition is a vestige of senatorial courtesy, giving home-state senators a chance to weigh in on judicial nominees from their states.

From Washington Times • May 7, 2018

Sessions can expect a modicum of senatorial courtesy, given his long tenure in that chamber, but however polite, his hearings will expose some of the rawness that remains in the aftermath of the election.

From Washington Post • Jan. 7, 2017

The practice of senatorial courtesy gives great weight to the wishes of the senators from a State in which a federal judge is to serve.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2016

By all the rules of senatorial courtesy in those machine days, a member of the Cabinet from New York should have been a friend of its United States senator.

From My Memories of Eighty Years by Depew, Chauncey M. (Chauncey Mitchell)