Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday forwarded to the full Senate their approval of a controversial Justice Department nominee whose confirmation was left lingering when lawmakers went to their winter recess in December.

The committee voted along party lines to endorse Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's pick to head the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, after repeated protests from GOP lawmakers over past statements she made on abortion and national security.

Johnsen, who would be a senior aide to Attorney General Eric Holder if confirmed, was approved in a 12 to 7 vote. It was the second time she had come before the committee.

Sen. Harry Reid's spokesman Regan Lachapelle told Fox News it was to early to say when a vote on Johnsen will go before the Senate. 

"We will work with Republicans to get an agreement to consider the nomination," Lachapelle said.  

The Indiana University law professor had to be renominated by Obama after the Senate declined to vote on her confirmation before their session ended in December. She was the first unconfirmed nominee to win the president's renomination.

Johnsen would be in charge of the office that formulates the attorney general's formal opinions and provides counsel on the diciest legal questions, particularly the handling of Guantanamo Bay detainees and their impending move to the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill.

A host of GOP lawmakers have blasted Johnsen for her past statements on abortion and former President George Bush's national security policies.

One of the comments that most dismayed critics is her comparison of "forced pregnancy," or when women are unable to have abortions, to slavery. 

"Her alarming record should disqualify her from this crucial role," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said Thursday after the vote. "Her sweeping condemnations of counterterrorism policies have been factually and legally wrong -- and clearly tinted through the lens of her leftist agenda."

All Republicans on the Judiciary Committee released statements critical of Johnsen Thursday. 

"Given her troubling legal views on terrorism, her documented history of allowing political preferences to infect her legal positions, and her startling views on abortion, it should come as no surprise that her nomination once again did not receive a single Republican vote in the Judiciary Committee," added Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.