Republicans officially BLOCK Democrats from replacing Dianne Feinstein on Judiciary Committee

Republicans Tuesday afternoon blocked a Democratic request to temporarily replace California Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Senate Judiciary Committee, putting President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees on hold until further notice.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, objected to a resolution by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that would have allowed another senator to replace Democrat Feinstein as she recovers from a case of shingles.

At age 89, the oldest member of the Senate has been absent since February and her office has not given a date for her return.

Republicans have argued that Democrats only want a replacement to push through the most partisan justices, noting that many of Biden’s nominees have bipartisan support and could take to the Senate floor for a vote.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell accepted the request, calling it “extremely unusual” while praising Feinstein as a “titanic figure.”

But McConnell, who himself has returned from absence following a concussion and broken rib, said he was doing nothing to ease the Democrats’ plight, even though he wished his colleague a “quick recovery.”

Democrats have complained that with Feinstein gone, it has become cumbersome to navigate President Biden’s nominees through the judiciary. With the House now in GOP hands, moving nominations is an important way Biden can influence the country’s agenda for years to come.

But her absence “really hasn’t brought the Judiciary Committee to a standstill,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. He said the panel had reported more than 50 nominees.

“So the administration does not face any impediment to move nominees who are remotely qualified for the job,” he said. “And yet some of the same far-left voices that attacked Senator Feinstein in the past are now suggesting that the Senate remove her from the Judiciary Committee indefinitely,” he said.

He said Senate Republicans “will not participate in temporarily sidelining” a committee member “to allow Democrats to push through their very worst candidates,” and pointed to four being held back.

His comments came after Senate Republicans warned they would block Democrats from dropping Feinstein from her role as a judicial committee amid demands that she step down because of her advanced age.

Senate Republicans “will not participate in the sidelining” of Sen. Dianne Feinstein on a temporary basis from the Judiciary Committee, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said. The 89-year-old Californian suffers from shingles

After calls for the longtime California Democrat to resign as she continues to miss votes with a case of shingles, party leaders have made arrangements to remove her from the panel so majority Democrats can continue to confirm federal judges through the narrowly divided Senate.

But any change requires Republicans to go along, and Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton made his own mind known over the weekend.

“Republicans shouldn’t be helping Democrats confirm Joe Biden’s most radical nominees in the courts,” he wrote, tweeting and article in the conservative publication The Federalist, claiming there was “zero reason” for them to help .

Cotton’s hardline stance came as senators returned to Washington after a hiatus, after a prominent Democrat again called for Feinstein to resign.

Feinstein faced fresh calls to resign her seat last month after she was hospitalized for shingles and missed a series of committee votes. Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman, who has missed votes for weeks while seeking inpatient treatment for depression, is set to return to the Senate on Monday.

The absences have hampered the majority’s ability to move nominations.

Feinstein refuses to step down, but said days ago that she has asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to appoint a temporary replacement for her on the judiciary.

She has already said she will not be running for re-election in 2024 following a series of reports about her difficulties with legislative or personnel details in Congress.

Republicans have the option of trying to block the move: Any senator can object to Schumer’s request for “unanimous consent” to pass the move. Party leaders could then try to push through the change with a ballot, but the rules stated they would have to get 60 votes to pass the change.

Democrats have faced challenges in the 51-49 Senate, with absences from Pennsylvania’s Feinstein and John Fetterman, who returned to the Capitol on Monday after six weeks of treatment for clinical depression.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., center, walks into the Senate Chamber, Monday, April 17, 2023, on Washington’s Capitol Hill, after being gone for nearly six weeks following a fall at a hotel near Washington and long-term treatment for concussion. He has yet to reveal whether he would try to prevent Democrats from removing Feinstein from the judiciary, where her absence has stalled President Biden’s nominations.

Senator Tom Cotton indicated he will not support a Democrats’ attempt to temporarily remove the ailing senators from the Judiciary Committee

McConnell, who himself had been absent for weeks following a fall at a fundraiser at the former Trump hotel, was identified as a key figure in the case and did not return to the Senate until Monday after suffering a concussion.

McConnell, 81, considers himself an institutionalist who said he held Trump responsible for January 6. But one of his most significant accomplishments was helping reform the judiciary through acrimonious floor flights — including killing Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nominee during the Obama administration. .

But it’s a problem that could one day come back to McConnell, 81, who hopes to regain majority next year with his own aging cohort. Senior Republican, Charles Grassley, 89, underwent hip surgery just 10 days into his new six-year term.

If the Republicans ignore the move, it will only be raised in the Democratic court, where California progressive Rep. Ro Khanna on Sunday continued his calls for Feinstein to resign.

He called on Governor Gavin Newsom to appoint an “acting” senator to fill the seat.

“He doesn’t need to appoint anyone in the current race” to succeed her, Khanna said on Fox News Sunday. “I would support the governor in that. This has nothing to do with the current race, because a janitor will solve that.’