Senate Democrats face uphill battle in temporarily replacing Dianne Feinstein on Judiciary Committee
Washington — Sen. Dianne Feinstein's unusual request to be temporarily replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she continues to recuperate from a long illness may not be one that's easily granted.
Her prolonged absence from the committee and the Senate as a whole has stalled Democrats' confirmation of federal judges, given the party's two-seat majority in the chamber. The 89-year-old California Democrat has missed dozens of votes since she was hospitalized with shingles in February. Feinstein has not returned to Washington since she was released from the hospital in early March "due to continued complications," she said last Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he wants the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily take Feinstein's place on the committee this week.
Senate rules require the entire chamber to elect members to standing — or permanent — committees, but each party is largely responsible for choosing which of its members will serve on each panel. The parties nominate potential committee members at the start of a new Congress, but senators do not officially serve on the committees until they are elected by the entire Senate.
Senate Democrats rely on the Steering and Outreach Committee to nominate members for all committee assignments. Committee members "usually make nominations by consensus. However, if significant competition exists for a particular seat, then secret balloting usually is conducted and the majority-vote winner is granted the nomination," according to the Congressional Research Service.
If Feinstein's temporary replacement is treated as a vacancy, Democrats would turn to the committee to make a nomination before Senate Democrats approve the assignment by unanimous consent.
After that, Schumer would bring up a resolution on the Senate floor. If he does so via unanimous consent, a single senator could object to the replacement. The resolution would then go to a floor vote and require at least 60 votes — including at least 10 Republicans — to pass.
But several Republican senators have already said they have no plans to throw Democrats a lifeline, making it likely Democrats will have to find another route to replace Feinstein.
"Republicans should not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden's most radical nominees to the courts," Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted Saturday.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee tweeted Monday that she would not help Democrats "pack the court with activist judges."
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said Monday he would not support a temporary replacement, calling it an "unprecedented request solely intended to appease those pushing for radical, activist judges."
"Never, not once have we allowed temporary substitutes on committees, and now is not the time to start," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Monday on the Senate floor. "Republicans are not going to break this precedent in order to bail out Senator Schumer or the Biden administration's most controversial nominees."
"Sen. Feinstein has been a mainstay of this body for more than three decades," Cornyn continued. "And I hope to see her back in these halls soon. But until then, President Biden's most controversial partisan judicial nominees will have to wait."
If Schumer is not able to replace Feinstein temporarily, the California senator may face more pressure from within her party to resign.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who also sits on the Judiciary Committee, said Feinstein had made "the right decision to step off" the panel, but she suggested that there might come a point in time if Feinstein's absence goes on for an extended period of time, "she's going to have to make a decision with her family and her friends about what her future holds," Klobuchar told ABC's "This Week."
"Because this isn't just about California, it's also about the nation," Klobuchar said. "And we just can't — with this one vote margin — and expect every other person to be there every single time."