Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) asked the sick Sen. Diana Feinstein (D-Calif.) to resign, noting that the senator’s months-long absence from the Senate Judiciary Committee has stalled work there.
Feinstein “should retire,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Bluesky, a nascent social media platform.
“I think the criticism of that stance as ‘anti-feminist’ is a farce,” she added, referencing comments from Feinstein’s defenders who argue that sexism, not absenteeism, is driving calls for her resignation.
Without Feinstein, 89, democrats have lacked enough votes to confirm the president Joe Biden‘s judicial candidates, stopping critically important work.
“Their refusal to stand down or appear is doing great damage to the judiciary, precisely where copyright is being stripped,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That failure means that now in this precious window, Democrats can only move on to nominees approved by the Republican Party.”
The California Democrat has been absent from the Senate since February, when a bout of shingles landed her in the hospital. She has said that she will return as soon as her health allows. She has no plans to run for re-election in 2024, but has said he intends to finish his current term, which ends in January 2025.
Various other progressives they have also called on Feinstein’s resignation, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), who framed his absence as a “dereliction of duty.”