A growing number of Senate Republicans, including several on the Judiciary Committee, have announced their opposition to replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) on the panel temporarily, adding to growing concern about how Democrats intend to move forward on judicial nominations stalled by the California senator’s health-related absence.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Monday he wants to move to replace Feinstein “sometime this week” after her absence from the Judiciary Committee stood in the way of Democrats’ ability to confirm President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.
SCHUMER WANTS TO REPLACE FEINSTEIN ON JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TEMPORARILY ‘SOMETIME THIS WEEK’
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), a former member of Senate leadership, said he wishes Feinstein well but indicated he would not support replacing her on the panel on Monday evening.
“Republicans are not going to break this precedent in order to bail out Sen. Schumer or the Biden administration’s most controversial nominees,” Cornyn said to reporters, emphasizing that there is not likely to be a path to 10 GOP votes to swap out Feinstein.
Cornyn said the circumstances would be different if she resigned and Democrats attempted to fill her seat permanently, indicating Republican senators may be more likely to work with Democrats. If Democrats are unable to get 60 votes to approve an organizing resolution to replace Feinstein with another Democrat, some are predicting it will only increase the pressure on her to resign if she doesn’t return to the Senate soon.
“The Dems are sort of using this because they want pressure on her to resign. And I think this gives them sort of a lever to do that,” Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Republican, told Politico.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has voted some of Biden’s judicial nominees out of committee over the last couple years, also expressed his opposition.
I will vote against any attempt by Senate Democrats to temporarily replace Sen. Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee. I deeply respect Senator Feinstein, but this is an unprecedented request solely intended to appease those pushing for radical, activist judges. This is especially…
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) April 17, 2023
“I deeply respect Senator Feinstein, but this is an unprecedented request solely intended to appease those pushing for radical, activist judges,” Tillis said.
Tillis joins the majority of other Senate Republicans on the Judiciary Committee who have voiced their concerns over replacing Feinstein temporarily. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and Tom Cotton (R-AK) have said they will not support a temporary swap.
Schumer said he spoke to Feinstein a few days ago and that she’s “very hopeful” she will return to Washington soon. Schumer said he would discuss with his caucus which senator he would put forward to replace Feinstein.
“We should have a temporary replacement until she returns, and we’re hopeful Republicans will join us on that,” he said. “It’s the only right and fair thing to do.”
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If Schumer’s attempt to replace Feinstein fails, calls for her resignation could grow louder. Feinstein was hospitalized in March for shingles and has since missed nearly 60 votes this year. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he does not intend to push the California senator to resign if Democrats are unable to replace her temporarily.
“She is obviously sensitive to the fact that her absence has an impact on the committee. I’m not going to push her into any other decision. I think we can take care of this issue and do it very quickly,” Durbin said to reporters on Monday night.
