Diane Feinstein is a senator from California. She is the oldest current member in the US Senate at 89. She has been suffering from shingles and has been largely absent this year from senate votes. This matters because she is on the judiciary committee which means many judges are not getting seated due to her absence.
Apart from her age and (some say) mental diminishment should she resign? I get shingles is a sucky ailment but she needs to be doing her job and harm is happening because she’s not there.
If she was 40 and laid up with an ailment I could see wanting to hang in there but she is 89…when waylaid by such a disease it’s probably time to pass the baton to someone else.
At the very least, Schumer should remove her from all committees. I cannot imagine why he hasn’t. If she comes back and can do the job then he can put her back on some committees.
Dems need to be going full steam ahead and this just seems like some bullshit self-destruction cuz she’s “been there a long time.”
I don’t think Schumer’s age and length of service has anything to do with it. Out of respect for her, I don’t think he wants to pull that trigger until he needs to. Shingles is a bitch and I hope she recovers soon.
I agree it’s out of a kind of respect that he and Pelosi defend the status quo. But Feinstein already does not know what is going on from day to day, so it’s hard to imagine that anything medical could happen at this point that would make the need greater. As a legislator, she effectively does not exist right now.
I’d want more detail on the 20 votes she hasn’t missed. Is this something where she has some flexibility in scheduling of her treatments, and she’s still able to make it in for the most important 25% of the votes, or is it she’s making it in for as much as she can, working around an inflexible schedule?
Also, what’s the procedure for replacing her? If she were to resign now, would that mean her seat would be vacant for a week, or a year?
Does Schumer need Feinstein’s permission to remove her from the Judiciary cmte? Couldn’t he just replace her with someone else, say it’s in an acting capacity, and if she ever makes it back she can have her seat back?
Jeez, who needs Republicans like McConnell holding up judicial appointments when you’ve got someone on your own side doing all their work for them?
The same question was asked about Strom Thurmond of South Carolina back in the 90’s. He served well into his 90’s, at the end it was more honorary than about accomplishing anything. His mental state during his last term was questioned regularly. One of his Senate aides said Thurmond didn’t know if he was on horseback or foot the last 10 years he was in the senate. The Republican party at the time kept many of his issues out of the public view.
RBG dying in her seat, Feinstein making a mess out of confirmation hearings and not even knowing which way she voted, the ongoing and growing age disparities between Democratic and Republican federal judge appointees, absolutely needing Biden to be healthy at 81… it’s all a big old boulder rolling downhill.
If it becomes really necessary, couldn’t Democrats wheel in Feinstein for crucial votes, like Robert Byrd (who was still in office, voting and serving on committee(s) at age 92)?
Or they could have Feinstein transported by ambulance and stretcher, like Pete Wilson.
She needs to step aside posthaste. AIUI her spot on the Judiciary Committee is the tiebreaker - 10 D and 10 R without her present. As a result, Biden’s judicial picks are in limbo, because a tie is essentially a loss here.
But, if she leaves now and Governor Newsom appoints a replacement, that can complicate the whole Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee contest for Feinstein’s seat in 2024. Plus, Newsom promised if he were to fill that seat, it would be with a Black woman and Lee would be the obvious choice, but would give her an incumbent advantage in the 2024 election, and Newsom is loathe to tilt the scales like that. He could appoint someone who agrees to fill the seat until Feinstein’s term is over with someone who agrees not to run in that race.
And yeah, the whole RBG thing weighs on this. My wife thinks she died in February but the Democrats are doing a Weekend at Bernie’s with her.
The governor of California appoints a replacement who serves until the seat is up in the next election (which, of course, that person could run for if they wanted to).
The current governor of California is Gavin Newsome, a democrat.
Just for the record, there is no way to remove a senator apart from the senate itself tossing a member with a 2/3 vote (or they lose the next election, of course).
I am more worried about Biden’s dementia than Feinstein’s issues. If Schumer needs her vote on anything, he’ll sit her down and whisper, “Vote yes.” when her time to vote comes up.