Former Obama speechwriter and “Pod Save America” host, Jon Lovett, called for the immediate resignation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Tuesday due to her failing health issues and because her absence is preventing Democrats from voting on judge confirmations in the Senate.

Lovett, who co-founded the aptly named progressive media company Crooked Media, contends that Feinstein’s absence is keeping the Senate from confirming justices and he believes more Democrats should demand that she immediately step down.

“There’s been a lot of reporting about Dianne Feinstein no longer being fit to serve in the Senate representing the biggest state in this country. She is currently out for shingles. That is sad. That is obviously not her fault,” Lovett said during his podcast, “Pod Save America,” according to The Hill.

“But because she is not in the Judiciary Committee, [Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin] has said that it has made it basically impossible to move a lot of these lower court nominees to the Senate for a vote, which means that Dianne Feinstein, who should not be in the Senate, is now preventing us from being able to confirm judges,” he charged.

.@jonlovett on Dianne Feinstein:

She is now preventing us from being able to confirm judges… As sad as it is to see someone who has had an incredibly storied and important career… Dianne Feinstein should no longer be in the Senate. She should resign. pic.twitter.com/aPPMVUJuq2

— Pod Save America (@PodSaveAmerica) April 11, 2023

“And as sad as it is to sort of see someone who’s had an incredibly storied and long career and has done a lot of good for this state, I think what the people around Dianne Feinstein are doing, allowing, being part of this farce of having a lack of a senator in such an important job is really wrong,” Lovett asserted. “And Dianne Feinstein should no longer be in the Senate. She has to resign and more people should be calling on her to resign.”

Feinstein, 89, revealed on March 2 that she was hospitalized for shingles treatment after being diagnosed with an infection in February. The elder senator was released from the hospital on March 7 but has yet to return to the Senate.

She is “recovering at home” where she is receiving treatment for shingles. Feinstein says that she looks forward to “returning to the Senate as soon as possible.”

The California senator announced in February via a tweet that she will not seek a sixth term in 2024 but stopped short of resigning. When reporters asked her about the announcement, she appeared confused over it.

I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends. Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives.

— Senator Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) February 14, 2023

“You put out the statement?” Feinstein asked, before telling the press, “I didn’t know they put it out.”

“It is what it is,” she remarked. “I think the time has come. I have a whole other year. I have things that are underway. I expect to achieve them, I hope, and so we’ll see.”

Democrats have found themselves stalled over the last few weeks with Feinstein out with shingles and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) previously hospitalized for clinical depression. With only a narrow margin in the Senate, their absence meant that both parties have 49 members present assuring a virtual stalemate on issues.

“I can’t consider nominees in these circumstances, because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee,” Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told CNN.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was hospitalized in early March for shingles and has remained in her San Francisco home since March 7th, has missed 60 of the 82 votes taken in the Senate so far this year. The Senate, which has been on recess since March 31st, is preparing to return on… pic.twitter.com/rwLtmneTJX

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) April 11, 2023

He added, “We still have some nominees left on the calendar that we can work on. … But we have more in the wings that we would like to process through the committee.”

Durbin said earlier in April that he hoped Democrats would be “back to full strength” after Easter. That deadline has now come and gone, frustrating Democrats even further.

Democrats have wanted Feinstein gone for some time so a younger leftist can take her place. A number of unnamed Senate colleagues and former staffers claimed in April of last year that Feinstein’s memory was rapidly deteriorating and that her staff did much of her work. That revelation caused even more Democrats to demand her resignation.

No one can force Diane Feinstein to resign. But the Senate Democrats can remove her from her committees. And they should, right now. Starting with Judiciary.

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) April 12, 2023

Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) have both announced that they will run for Feinstein’s vacant seat in 2024. It is an absolute certainty that a Democrat will succeed her.

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