(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), age 89 and ailing, says her anticipated return to Washington has been delayed by "continued complications" related to her bout with shingles.

In a press release on Wednesday, she said she "intends" to return to Washington eventually, but in the meantime, because her absence from the Judiciary Committee is delaying the confirmation of liberal judges, she has asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to "allow another Democratic senators to temporarily serve until I'm able to resume my committee work."

Feinstein said she remains "committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco."

But even some fellow Democrats say it's time for Feinstein to resign.

"I have an enormous amount of respect for Senator Dianne Feinstein," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told CNN on Thursday:

"She has had an extraordinary career in public service. She's been an icon on issues of gun violence and women's rights, but it has become painfully obvious to many of us in California that she is no longer able to fulfill her duties, as she doesn't have a clear return date.

"We haven't been able to confirm judges at a time where women's rights and voting rights are under assault. Senator Durbin himself, as the chair of Judiciary, has said that the reason we're not being able to move these judges is because Senator Feinstein isn't there.

"And so as someone from California I felt an obligation to say what's so many colleagues are saying in private -- that the time has come for her to gracefully step down and have a dignified end to a very distinguished political career."

Khanna said temporarily replacing Feinstein on the Democrat-led Judiciary Committee is "not that simple."

"Any single senator, Republican senator, can object to that," he said.

"Senator Schumer has done the right thing. He said he's going to try to get that done in the Senate. But we have to see if that's even possible.

"And I guess my question is, why not just take the step and resign instead of going through all of these motions...The most urgent issue is that we can get our judges confirmed."