President Biden’s judicial nominees are being held up by two Democratic senators.
First, Jezebel reports, Dianne Feinstein Is MIA, and Her Absence Is Holding Up Judicial Confirmations:
At what is clearly a critical time for confirming good federal judges, Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) increasingly prolonged absence from the Senate is apparently holding up the process for a number of President Joe Biden’s judicial picks this year.
Feinstein, who was hospitalized in early March for shingles and has remained in her San Francisco home since March 7, has missed 60 votes of the 82 taken in the Senate in 2023, per the San Francisco Chronicle. And as the Senate, which has been on recess since March 31, prepares to return on April 17, Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said on Monday that Feinstein’s absence from the Senate—and the Judiciary Committee specifically—will impede Democrats’ ability to confirm judicial nominees.
“I can’t consider nominees in these circumstances, because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee,” Durbin told CNN. He continued, “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.”
Feinstein’s team has been tight-lipped about when, if at all, she’ll return to D.C. Her spokesperson told the Chronicle this week that the 89-year-old “continues to work from home in San Francisco as she recuperates.” Earlier this year, Feinstein announced she won’t seek reelection in 2024 as a handful of Democratic House members vie for her seat. But she intends to serve out the rest of her term, which is set to end in January 2025. That’s close to two years from now, and it’s troubling to consider all the key votes and confirmation processes that could be stalled by Feinstein’s absence—either now or in the future, if she becomes ill again—given Democrats’ razor-thin 51-49 majority.
Politico updates today, Feinstein’s condition sparks concern she won’t return to the Senate:
[M]ultiple Democrats close to her, as well as top-ranking congressional aides, are growing increasingly concerned that she may never come back to Washington at all.
The 89-year-old California senator has spent nearly two months away from the Capitol, including a stint in the hospital before returning home to San Francisco to recover.
Three people who have visited with the senator in recent weeks or been briefed on her status say her diagnosis appears to have taken a heavy toll on her. Other confidants, including two who have seen or spoken with the senator, underscored that they are still hopeful she could serve out the nearly two years that remain in her term. But neither of those people, who addressed the sensitive matter on condition of anonymity, indicated they were confident she would be able to do so from Washington.
.Indeed, aides and confidants are currently offering up no firm timeframe for her return to a chamber where Democrats are sorely missing her vote. And Feinstein’s own spokesperson Adam Russell said that there was no update on her expected date to return to Washington, though at least one associate to the senator said she’s “making good progress in her recovery.”
Feinstein’s absence has already forced her party to change how they run the Senate, where Democrats can’t move President Joe Biden’s judicial picks without her vote.
[H]er staff has been reticent to talk about her health even with other members of the California delegation, according to six Democrats familiar with the conversations.
It’s a delicate dynamic, one made even tougher by Senate Democrats’ 51-vote majority. And speculation about Feinstein’s future ratcheted higher after the recent departure of her chief of staff, David Grannis, who left for a new role in the Biden administration. James Sauls, a longtime aide on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has stepped into the chief of staff role, according to Russell.
While her illness has kept Feinstein from voting in the Judiciary panel to approve Biden’s nominees for the federal bench, effectively stalling those confirmations for now, it’s also being felt on the Senate floor. The California Democrat has missed nearly 60 votes since her shingles diagnosis in mid-February.
That lengthy absence has strained Democrats’ 51-49 majority in the chamber, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) also absent for weeks while in treatment for depression.
Vice President Kamala Harris has broken several ties to confirm judicial nominees on the floor, but committee action has been postponed on multiple nominations in her absence. There are currently 14 pending judicial nominees who have had hearings but have not gotten a vote in committee.
Jezebel continues:
Questions about Feinstein’s fitness to serve have followed her for years now, particularly since an unsettling moment in 2020 when she embraced Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and seemed supportive of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, prompting questions of whether she even knew what was going on. Shortly after, Feinstein was removed from her position as Chair of the Judiciary Committee—but a report from the time claimed Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had to twice inform Feinstein of her removal because she forgot the first time. Last year, a separate San Francisco Chronicle report citing unnamed senators and Senate staffers claimed Feinstein’s memory was “rapidly deteriorating,” and that she’s “mentally unfit” to continue serving. And back in February, Feinstein and her team struggled to even coordinate on something as simple as the timing of her announcement that she isn’t seeking reelection.
Feinstein represents 40 million Americans and serves on four Senate committees. It seems we can both thank her for her service and decades of blazing a path for women in politics and recognize that her remaining in the Senate past her ability to do her job isn’t exactly a feminist victory—not when women and pregnant people stand to be harmed the most by the stalled confirmation of liberal judges.
UPDATE: NBC News reports, Sen. Dianne Feinstein faces first calls to resign from members of Congress:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is facing calls to resign from fellow Democrats in Congress after a lengthy absence from the Senate due to health issues.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., became the first member of Congress to call on Feinstein to resign late Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s time for @SenFeinstein to resign,” he tweeted. “We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.”
It’s time for @SenFeinstein to resign. We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people.
— Ro Khanna (@RoKhanna) April 12, 2023
Khanna elaborated in a message to NBC News: “We have a crisis in the judiciary with extremist judges stripping away women’s rights. You can’t preach on television about the danger of these judges and then sit silently as Senator Feinstein misses vote after vote to confirm pro-choice judges.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is not without fault of his own for continuing to honor a Senate tradition, even after Republicans under the “Grim Reaper of Democracy,” Mitch McConnell, disregarded the “blue slip” for judicial appointments. Republicans do not play by the rules, why do Democrats tie their own hands by wanting to adhere to Senate traditions that have already been blown away by lawless Republicans? This makes no sense.
Neo-Confederate MAGA Mississipi Senator Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Blocks Biden Judge Pick for Mississippi Over Trans Rights, Soros PAC:
U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is blocking President Joe Biden’s nomination of Scott Colom, a northeast Mississippi district attorney, to serve as U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi. The Republican senator announced the decision Tuesday, citing the Black nominee’s support for transgender rights and support he received from a PAC funded by billionaire philanthropist and Holocaust survivor George Soros in 2015.
Under Senate tradition, senators can block judicial nominees from their home states by refusing to grant approval by returning a piece of paper known as a “blue slip” to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Mississippi’s other U.S. senator, Republican Roger Wicker, has already granted Colom his approval.
“I visited with the District Attorney recently, and I recognize that he is smart and well liked in his district,” the Republican senator said in a statement Tuesday. “However, there are a number of concerns I have regarding his record. As someone with a strong interest in protecting the rights of girls and women, I am concerned about Scott Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes.”
Democrats had made progress on advancing judicial picks in red states, but an objection from a Mississippi Republican over a Biden nominee has intensified calls to strip senators of effective veto power over nominees from their states. https://t.co/lAD45eRHVd
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 12, 2023
The New York Times reports (subscriber content):
Republicans abandoned the blue-slip process for appeals court judges after gaining control of the Senate in 2015… But the practice was retained for district court judges, and Durbin has been reluctant to jettison it, fearing Republicans would retaliate by bringing the confirmation process to a standstill.
Well, no doubt this was coming. But the obvious flaw here is that these geriatrics shouldn’t be running for six year Senate terms. When you’re old, especially in your 80s, serious health problems can happen suddenly and you can be incapacitated for quite some time, perhaps until death.
But so many of these geriatric Sacred Cows don’t want to ever retire or pass the torch to the younger generations.
This is a tradition that is deeply embedded in our two dominant political parties and it needs to end. If that starts with an 89 year old sick and frail woman, then so be it. This should hopefully be a message to the Democratic and Republican party leaders. The people deserve better than this.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3949306-dianne-feinstein-resign-double-standard-for-women/
Calls for Feinstein to resign elicit accusations of double standard for women
BY JULIA MANCHESTER AND AMIE PARNES – 04/14/23 11:13 AM ET
Critics are highlighting what they say is a double standard against Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) as she faces calls to resign from her post over her health.
Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna (Calif.) and Dean Phillips (Minn.) called on Feinstein, 89, to step down on Wednesday over her prolonged absence from the upper chamber due to her health.
The calls come as other male senators, including John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have taken leaves of absence for health-related issues in recent months.
On Wednesday, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pointed to absences from male lawmakers, suggesting there was a double standard at play.
“It’s interesting to me. I don’t know what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way. I’ve never seen them go after a man who was sick in the Senate in that way,” Pelosi told reporters, whose comments came shortly before Khanna called on Feinstein to step down.
These geriatrics in politics who have achieved Sacred Cow status are a real problem.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg should have quit SCOTUS early in Obama’s second term given her age and health issues. But to suggest this was considered blasphemous. So she stayed until her last breath, and look at the result. And this isn’t about 20/20 hindsight, it was totally predictable unless you believed in the “Hillary is Inevitable”
prophecy.
Of course Dianne Feinstein should resign. She 89 years old and she’s sick and frail. She needs to tend to her health issues and let Gavin Newsom appoint a replacement.
These geriatric Sacred Cows need to learn they won’t live forever and there is an appropriate time to let go of their powerful position and pass the torch.
RBG should have and DiFi (along with many others) needs to take the late Dan Hicks’ advice to heart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sX5Dbosgzw
She can’t leave if she doesn’t know where she is (hat tip Sharpie).
She’s senile and corrupt and in her current state she’s doing just as much damage as Sinema and Manchin.
Her seat is a safe Dem, what is her problem? She’s got plenty of money from decades of voting on issues that made her and her husband richer, she doesn’t need the paycheck.
What is wrong with these people?
Oh, never mind, answered my own question with the senile part. She doesn’t know where she is half the time.
Amended – selfish AND senile.
As an old myself, it brings me no joy to say this.
Age isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for senility. As another “old” I’ve known 90 year olds as sharp as a tack and 30 somethings who were clearly descending into senility. Of course chronic angel dust use by the latter may have been a factor.
UPDATE: “Feinstein asks to be ‘temporarily’ replaced on Judiciary amid some party pressure to resign from the Senate”, https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/politics/khanna-feinstein-resign/index.html
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Wednesday night that she had asked to be “temporarily” replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee while she is recovering from shingles, but the California Democrat remained committed to returning to the Senate amid pressure by some in her party to step down.
“I understand that my absence could delay the important work of the Judiciary Committee, so I’ve asked Leader Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Democratic senator to temporarily serve until I’m able to resume my committee work,” the 89-year-old Feinstein said in a statement.
Feinstein said she had expected to return to Washington “by the end of the March work period,” but that her return had been “delayed due to continued complications related to my diagnosis.” She planned to return, she said, “as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel.”
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday night that “per Sen. Feinstein’s wishes,” he would “ask the Senate next week to allow another Democratic Senator to temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee.”
In order to replace her on the committee, a resolution would need to be agreed upon to name another member to the panel. Typically, members are named to committees as part of an organizing resolution at the beginning of a new Senate session.
It’s time to administer the “Person Woman Man Camera TV” test to Feinstein. Like RBG, people in high office often become drunk on their powers and believe they are invincible.
If Diane Feinstein does the right thing & immediately resigns Gavin Newsome has pledged replace any Senate resignations with a black woman. So we may say hello to Senator Barbara Lee who, I’m sure will do a great job filling the seat.
Durbin’s recalcitrance in trying to maintain Senate comity is a fool’s errand. Especially in light of how Repugs have defecated all over the blue-slip tradition. Accommodating the opposition when they’re waging scorched earth war against you is not the way to go. Perhaps dope slapping Durbin may wake him up?
She would be foolish to pass up the chance to give her chosen successor a big boost by endorsing for her replacement.