Republicans block temporary replacement for Feinstein on Judiciary Committee

Senate Republicans blocked a resolution on Tuesday to temporarily replace California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the politically important Judiciary Committee, putting stalled judicial nominations Democrats were hoping to push forward back in limbo.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear earlier in the day that Republicans wouldn't go along with a Democratic plan to temporarily replace the senator, who had asked for such treatment while she recovers from having shingles.

Calling the California Democrat "a titanic figure" and "a close personal friend," McConnell then said he wouldn't be part of sidelining her "indefinitely" so Democrats and the Biden administration could "push through a small fraction of their nominees who are so extreme so extreme and so unqualified, that they cannot win a single Republican vote in committee."

"Let's be clear, Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague on the committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees," McConnell said in a floor speech.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tried to pass a resolution Tuesday afternoon to have Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., serve as Feinstein's temporary replacement on the Judiciary Committee until her return.

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, objected on the floor.

"I don't think there's any appetite on the Republican side to have a temporary replacement," Graham told reporters earlier. "I don't think this is a good precedent for the Senate -- I doubt if any Republican would do that."

Asked if Feinstein should consider resigning if she doesn't return by next month, Schumer said he spoke to her a few days ago, "and she and I are both very hopeful that she will return very soon," he said.

Feinstein announced on March 2 she was hospitalized and receiving treatment for shingles after not having cast a vote since Feb. 16. Last week, after at least two House Democrats called on her to resign, the California senator said she was extending her absence due to complications from shingles and asked Schumer to temporarily replace her on the Judiciary Committee.

As more Republicans voiced their opposition to the replacement scheme this week, some have sought to ascribe nefarious motives to Democrats, saying the resolution to replace her temporarily was intended to oust the aging Feinstein for good.

"Senator Feinstein is my friend, and she has been an extraordinary senator. During the past two years, there clearly has been a concerted campaign to force her to leave the Judiciary Committee," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. "That's what's going on here, and I will have no part of that."

"For some time there has been an effort to either get Senator Feinstein to resign or to remove her from the Judiciary Committee or to keep her from becoming chair," said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. "It's not been overt. There's been an undercurrent, it's been rumored it's been innuendo. The people who are behind that should hide their heads in a bag."

Some have also criticized why Democrats were looking to replace Feinstein on only one of the three committees on which she sits. She holds seats on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee, but Democrats have not signaled they'd effort a replacement for her on those committees.

"If the majority came to us saying that all three committees Senator Feinstein serves on need a sat, need an active member in the seat, then that makes more sense," said Thom Tillis, R-N.C. "The fact that they've only focused on Judiciary ... I wouldn't support it."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended Democrats from the criticism, reminding at Tuesday's White House press briefing that the idea to temporarily replace Feinstein is one the senator put forward herself.

"It is flat wrong" to "seek partisan advantage" from "health issues of a colleague," Jean-Pierre said, claiming that's not the case here. "The American people reject that type of scorch earth type of behavior or approach to governing. Again, this is something that she put forward. And this was her request."

Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, has already voluntarily relinquished key positions as a result of questions about her health. She gave up her post as president pro tempore -- a position given to the most senior member of the majority party. In 2020, amid a progressive uproar after Feinstein's perceived leniency during then-Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, the senator announced she would surrender her top post on the Judiciary panel in the new session.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., meanwhile, has continued to call on Feinstein to resign after he predicted Democrats would face this sort of opposition when she asked Schumer to temporarily replace her.

"Any single senator, Republican senator, can object to that," Khanna told CNN last week, of selecting a replacement. "We have to see if that's even possible, and I guess my question is: Why not just take the step and resign instead of going through all these motions?"

"But I will say it's constructive," he added. "The most urgent issue is that we can get our judges confirmed."