Democrat Congressman Ro Khanna made waves last week when he publicly said what most Democrats (and everyone else for that matter) have been thinking for a long time: Senator Dianne Feinstein is no longer fit to serve in the U.S. Senate.
It’s time for @SenFeinstein to resign. We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) April 12, 2023
Senator Feinstein's failure to resign has consequences, deadlocking controversial judicial nominations in the Senate Judiciary Committee on which she serves. Without Feinstein's vote, nominees can only proceed with bipartisan support—effectively blocking the Biden Administration's most extreme and unqualified nominees.
Democrats are floating a plan to change the Senate rules mid-session in an effort to force through more of these controversial judicial nominations. The plan involves "temporarily" replacing her as a member of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Politico reported:
Feinstein began exploring whether she could temporarily step down from the Judiciary Committee before the first call to resign, according to a Senate aide familiar with the discussions. And her supporters remain hopeful that her willingness to do so will take some heat off of her. Several Democrats praised the request and said the senator deserves the space to recover.
NBC noted that the logistics of this plan are a bit more complicated than they might seem at first:
Replacing Feinstein on the panel, even on a short-term basis, would require approval from the full Senate. Schumer could ask for unanimous consent on a resolution to make that happen, but any one Republican member could object and block it.
In that case, Democrats would have to go through a lengthy process to garner the 60 votes required to break a filibuster — meaning 10 Republicans would have to join the other 50 Democratic members to allow Feinstein's replacement.
Republicans must not cooperate with this scheme that will give Senate Democrats more capital to push through the confirmation of radical judicial nominees.
Christopher Bedford wrote for The Federalist:
There’s zero reason — zero — that Republicans should cooperate with Schumer and the president on their judicial agenda, either tactically, politically, or even morally. . .
No one’s talking about government funding here, or defense, or some other thing sacred to the old guard of the GOP. At issue is an essentially lawless administration seeding the court with the types of judges who will uphold their lawlessness. Why cooperate in that?
Senator Tom Cotton agrees and tweeted his opposition to the Democrats' plan:
Republicans should not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden’s most radical nominees to the courts. https://t.co/Dq7DFfojVi
— Tom Cotton (@SenTomCotton) April 15, 2023
The Biden Administration has caused great damage to confidence in the American judicial system with its radical judicial nominees. RNLA Vice President for Judicial Affairs Audrey Perry Martin recently wrote for Townhall:
It is a dangerous place indeed when the American public can no longer expect judges to be faithful to, and maintain professional competence in, the law without being swayed by interests, public clamor, or fear of criticism.
And there is nothing more antithetical to those expectations than the nomination of a staunch ideologue whose record indicates that he or she is not inclined to follow those norms.
Republicans must come together and vote against the Democrats' scheme to "temporarily" replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee. The future of the federal judiciary is at stake.