As Sen. Dianne Feinstein takes time off from the Judiciary Committee to recover from shingles, Senate Democrats are working to address the bottleneck that has been delaying crucial judicial nominations for weeks.

To fill Feinstein’s spot on the high-profile committee, where Democrats hold a slim one-seat majority, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s spokesperson announced that he will request the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily take her place next week.

While Rep. Ro Khanna, a fellow California Democrat, has urged Feinstein to step down, suggesting that she resign instead of going through the motions, ABC News reported.

Earlier this week, CNN’s Manu Raju inquired about the impact of Feinstein’s absence on the Democrats’ ability to confirm politically-significant judges to Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin. In response, Durbin acknowledged that it would indeed have longer ramifications.

Written by staff