AOC says Feinstein’s refusal to retire is ‘causing great harm’ to US courts

The New York progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Monday that the California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein should retire, amid a long absence from Congress due to ill health which has affected their party's efforts to stock federal courts with liberal judges.

Feinstein, 89, "should retire", Ocasio-Cortez - 33 and commonly known as AOC - wrote on the social media platform Bluesky.

She added: "I think criticisms of that stance as 'anti-feminist' are a farce."

Prominent Democrats including the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand have labeled calls for Feinstein to quit sexist, because men in similar positions would not face such pressure.

Others have pushed back.

Feinstein was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco and is now the longest-serving female US senator. But before her current absence began, over a case of shingles, she faced questions about her mental fitness for the job.

She has said she intends to return soon but as a member of the Senate judiciary committee, her absence has affected the pace of confirmation of judges - a key aim of any administration but a priority for Democrats and Joe Biden after Republicans forced the pace of conservative confirmations under Donald Trump.