We won’t help Democrats replace Dianne Feinstein, Republicans warn
Senior Senate Republicans warn they will prevent Democrats from dropping Senator Dianne Feinstein from her role on the judiciary amid demands that she step down because of her advanced age.
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.
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has missed a string of votes while battling shingles. Republicans may not let Democrats take her out of powerful Judiciary Committee to detain President Biden’s judicial nominees
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
A key figure in the case will be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who himself was absent for weeks after falling at a fundraiser at the former Trump hotel.
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. .
A confidant of McConnell’s told Politics “My instinct is that he would do anything to keep the Democrats from stacking the federal judiciary,” saying, “It would be a little strange for him to grease the wheels to continue producing what so far has been a fairly high number of confirmations. .’
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 caretaker will solve that.’