Democrats' Dianne Feinstein dilemma

“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

What's happening

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is facing calls to resign from some of her Democratic colleagues as she deals with extended health issues that have kept her out of Washington for months.

Feinstein, 89, has been absent from the Senate since late February due to a lengthy bout with shingles — a viral condition that affects the nerves and can be very painful. During that span of time, she’s missed nearly 60 votes in the chamber and hasn’t fulfilled her role on several important committees. The impact of her absence is especially felt on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has been unable to advance any of President Biden’s judicial nominees, with seats on the committee currently evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

Beyond her current health problems, questions about Feinstein’s mental capacity and her ability to do her job have been raised for years, often in the form of anonymous statements from friends and colleagues to news outlets. Recently, though, a few congressional Democrats have come forward to openly call for her resignation. The first was Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who wrote on Twitter that “it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties.” That sentiment was echoed by Minnesota Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, who called her refusal to step down despite being unable to carry out her role a “dereliction of duty.”

Feinstein attempted to address some of these criticisms by requesting to temporarily be replaced on the Judiciary Committee, but Senate Republicans have blocked efforts to have another Democrat fill her seat.

Feinstein has been a trailblazer during her nearly six decades in politics. She is both the first female mayor of San Francisco and the first woman to represent California in the Senate, where she has served since 1992. In February, she announced she will not seek another term in office. Three high-profile Democrats in the House — Katie Porter, Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff — have launched campaigns to fill her seat when it opens. Were Feinstein to resign, which is the only realistic way she can leave the Senate before her term ends, in January of 2025, California Gov. Gavin Newsom would name her replacement.

Why there's debate

The situation has created an uncomfortable divide among liberals over how to balance Feinstein’s right to determine her own future and the impediments that her ongoing absence has imposed on Democrats' agenda.

Those calling for her resignation argue that her inability to fulfill her duties in the Senate means that the critical work of approving judges has ground to a dead stop. The ideological leanings of federal judges have become increasingly important in recent years in light of the many major policy issues that have been decided in courtrooms, rather than Congress. Democrats had, until recently, been working aggressively to confirm Biden’s judicial nominees during his first two years in office in hopes of countering the influence of his predecessor, Donald Trump, who helped shift the entire federal judiciary to the right by appointing more than 230 judges during his four years in office.

Feinstein’s fiercest critics say that in refusing to give up her seat in the Senate, she is prioritizing her own ego over the well-being of the 40 million Californians she represents — and the country as a whole. They also point fingers at mainstream Democrats for failing to take any action to prevent a circumstance like this from happening, despite years' worth of evidence that Feinstein may no longer be up to the task of being a senator.

But Feinstein’s defenders say those trying to push her out are using her medical condition, which she’ll likely recover from eventually, to raise what they see as unfounded accusations about her mental acuity. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., both suggested that sexism may be underlying the effort to push Feinstein to resign, while some centrist Democrats and conservatives say progressives are trying to seize on the opportunity to oust a senator who doesn’t support their far-left agenda.

What’s next

There’s no indication when Feinstein might be healthy enough to return to Washington, and some close contacts told Politico that there is doubt whether she ever will. Unless she resigns — or at least 10 Republicans back a move to replace her on the Judiciary Committee — Democrats’ plans to approve more of Biden’s judges will remain at a standstill indefinitely.

Perspectives

Feinstein is putting her own pride over the country she’s supposed to represent

“Understood by nearly any moral calculus, the choice is obvious. Feinstein is 89 years old, well past both the age and the condition at which most people retire. Her personal wealth is in the high eight figures. She would be fine. On the flip side, her retaining control of a job she cannot perform is already eating up unrecoverable time, which will have effects on the composition of the judiciary that are impossible to calculate but likely to be very large, with an impact on laws affecting millions of people.” — Jonathan Chait, New York

She shouldn’t be pushed out solely because of what will likely be a temporary illness

“Clearly, Feinstein is not currently meeting her own criteria for what constitutes an effective representative — gathering regularly with people and leaders, having a good attendance record, not being isolated. But that could change in the next month or so. Patience is hard to come by in politics, but that’s what this situation calls for. Feinstein deserves the opportunity to make a full recovery before being jostled out of office.” — Emily Hoeven, San Francisco Chronicle

The left will take any chance they can get to force a centrist Democrat out of office

“I think this is rooted in a broader campaign against Feinstein. ... I think they’re now going after her so much now, in part, because they don’t like her politics and she’s no longer in the progressive zeitgeist and they see an opportunity for Gavin Newsom to replace her with someone they like better.” — Kate Bachelder Odell, Wall Street Journal

Mainstream Democrats are too feckless to make any tough decisions, even with the nation’s future on the line

“Democratic leaders are all too comfortable in their sinecures of seniority and comity, and it is this comfort that underpins the power of a Feinstein and a Durbin. Wedded to the status quo, Senate Democrats are profoundly feckless.” — Jeet Heer, the Nation

As tough as this situation is for Democrats, there’s no easy path out of it

“Having been elected, she has become a political liability to her party and the country with no easy resolution. ... Knowing how to exit the stage gracefully is an art form few in public life have mastered, a cautionary tale for both those who seek office and those of who put them there with our votes.” — Doug McIntyre, Los Angeles Daily News

Feinstein has earned the right to decide her own future if she’s of sound enough mind to do so

“Feinstein may be due to retire. She’s had a long and very illustrious career. Or she may not be; we don’t have enough information yet to know. Ideally, either way, it’s a decision she is able to make, of sound mind, and for herself.” — Peggy Drexler, CNN

If someone’s unable to do their job, it’s fair to ask whether they should still have it

“It’s now abundantly clear that Feinstein’s job is being affected, and with that being the case, her constituents, her colleagues and, ideally, her inner circle have every reason to call for her to step down. If a firefighter, sanitation worker or a mailperson were equally incapable of doing their job in a timely and effective manner, there’d be reason to question their continuing in the role as well.” — Ja'han Jones, MSNBC

Democrats were willing to tolerate Feinstein’s decline until it stood in the way of their agenda

“Apparently, now that Feinstein’s absence has hindered the Democrats’ ability to confirm judicial nominees, it’s no longer mean, agist, tasteless, or harsh to point out that she’s too darn old to remain in office.” — Jim Geraghty, National Review

Accusations of sexism critics are completely unfounded

“Feminism isn’t about individual women climbing up the corporate ladder, it’s about working for equal rights. Feinstein represents 40 million Americans and her decisions affect millions more: there is nothing remotely feminist about Feinstein putting her ego above the greater good, particularly at such a critical moment for women’s rights in the US. It’s just selfish.” — Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian

Biden’s presidential legacy is at stake

“Judges can be a president’s deepest and most lasting legacy. If you leave dozens of judicial openings for your successor, Trump taunted Biden in a 2020 presidential debate, ‘you can’t be a good president.’ Given how much is on the line right now, he’s not wrong, either — especially if you and your party have the power to avoid that and don’t use it.” — Jill Lawrence, Bulwark

Feinstein risks undermining her own storied career by hanging on too long

“It’s hard to know why some politicians hang on so long; too often it’s sad when they do. Feinstein’s case is one of the saddest, given the cloud that’s now obscuring a proud legacy. The senator has so many laurels she could have rested upon.” — Jackie Calmes, Los Angeles Times

Given the age of so many lawmakers, this likely won’t be the time this sort of thing becomes an issue

“It is valid to worry about where such things could go in the future. If critics can push out one duly elected lawmaker, what about other aging lawmakers who confront lengthy health challenges? Lawmakers must worry about when such a campaign might come for them before they’re ready to call it quits.” — Aaron Blake, Washington Post

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