Schumer reveals his pick to fill in for Feinstein on Judiciary Committee
Ryan King
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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) revealed that he will tap Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) as a temporary replacement on the Senate Judiciary Committee as Republicans line up in opposition.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who is been absent since February, requested Schumer name a temporary replacement on the panel to keep President Joe Biden‘s more controversial nominees rolling through the approval process. Schumer indicated that he will try to set up a vote for that as quickly as Tuesday.
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“I spoke to Sen. Feinstein just a few days ago, and she and I are both very hopeful that she will return very soon,” Schumer told reporters.
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Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has been considering negotiating over blue slips, a policy that would grant home-state senators of a given nominee power to scuttle their nomination, according to Schumer.
“Tomorrow, this could happen to the Republicans,” Durbin previously said of Republican opposition to temporarily replacing Feinstein. “She’s in a delicate part of her life and her Senate service. They should stand by her and give her a dignified departure.”
A growing number of Republicans has publicly opposed helping Democrats temporarily replace Feinstein.
“Let’s be clear: Senate Republicans will not take part in sidelining a temporarily absent colleague off a committee just so Democrats can force through their very worst nominees,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) declared from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
To swap a senator with Feinstein, Schumer must amend the chamber’s organizing resolution. Given Republicans’ likely plans to block that maneuver, Democrats will likely need at least 10 GOP defections to break a filibuster.
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Despite Feinstein’s absence, Democrats are still able to move forward with nominees who have bipartisan support. They are simply hampered from charging ahead with ones who have drawn fierce GOP opposition.
Biden has enjoyed considerable success at getting his judicial nominees through the upper chamber. At the two-year mark, Biden nabbed 100 nominations, surpassing former President Donald Trump’s 85 and former President Barack Obama’s 67.