Last month, it was revealed that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) was taking a leave of absence due to a shingles diagnosis, but that she hoped to return "later this month," from when the announcement was made, meaning sometime in March. Well, not only has March come and gone, but when it comes to an update on when Feinstein will return, the update is that there has been no update.
CNN's Manu Raju spoke with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who serves as the majority whip and also replaced Feinstein as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. As was the case a few weeks ago, when it was still March, the two discussed the ability to confirm judges due to such an absence, or more accurately, the inability.
This more recent conversation came off as more urgent, evidently, especially when there's still no update on when Feinstein will return.
Asked if Sen. Feinstein’s absence has longer ramifications on the Democrats’ ability to confirm judges, Dick Durbin told me: “yes, of course it does.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 10, 2023
No update yet on when Feinstein will return.
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Feinstein's absence--along with, to some degree, Sen. John Fetterman's (D-PA)--isn't the only issue for Democrats and President Joe Biden's judicial nominees.
As CNN highlighted on Monday morning, Feinstein's absence is a major factor causing issues, but not the only one. There is "a Senate rule that gives Republicans the ability to veto district court nominees for courts in their home states," which is known as the blue slip tradition:
Mississippi GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith announced Tuesday that she would not return her “blue slip” for nominee Scott Colom, effectively sinking his nomination if Democrats choose to continue honoring the rule. The White House has said it is not backing away from its selection of Colom, currently the district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi.
But even if Democrats wanted to push forward, the absence of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, away from Senate for several weeks with a case of shingles, stands in the way. Without Feinstein on the panel, the partisan breakdown is 10-10.
No date has been given for the 89-year-old Feinstein to come back to Washington.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin acknowledged to CNN that Feinstein’s absence has slowed down their push to confirm nominees.
“I can’t consider nominees in these circumstances because a tie vote is a losing vote in committee,” Durbin said.
Asked if her absence has longer ramifications on the Democrats’ ability to confirm nominees, the Senate chairman said “yes, of course it does,” pointing to the long process of getting nominees scheduled for votes during precious floor time.
“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,” Durbin said.
...
Since Feinstein’s absence was announced, the committee has only approved one nominee, judge Matthew Brookman, the GOP-supported appointee for the Indiana district court seat.
Ten nominees for Article III judgeships have been eligible since mid-March for a final committee vote that, if successful, would advance them to the Senate floor. Another two nominees had their committee hearings on March 22.
The piece also highlights the Biden administration's preoccupation with nominating people based on their sex or race in the name of "equity," though CNN predictably finds a more positive way to sell it:
Biden closed out the first years of his presidency having put 97 judges, including Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, on the federal bench and the Senate has since confirmed 22 more this year.
While the president likely won’t match Trump’s successes reshaping the US Supreme Court, his administration has focused on the lower courts. During the Trump years, Senate Republicans confirmed 229 judges, including three justices. The Biden administration has stressed not just the quantity of judges confirmed but also how Biden has sought to bring more professional and demographic diversity to the courts.
While the piece may wish to discuss "quantity of judges" in a positive regard, it's worth emphasizing that there have been quantity concerns with Biden's nominees. Last month, as Julio highlighted, Judge Kato Crews, who has been nominated for a district court seat in Colorado, was stumped by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) when it comes to his lack of knowledge about the Brady v. Maryland case.
"Feinstein" is trending on Twitter as a result of the non-update, including as users complain about not only the senator's absence, but her still being in office. The 89-year-old announced in February that she will not be seeking reelection, though it was confirmed late last year she would finish her term.