bigtree
bigtree's JournalIs it really so hard to support and respect an aged, ailing octogenarian wanting to finish her job
...even taking a moment to admire this woman for her determination?
twitter.com/igorbobic/status/1656374278915346458
She's "dealing with vision and balance impairments, and will be using a wheelchair (shingles can cause face paralysis and other visible impairments)."
Still, she made her first vote this afternoon since returning, confirming Glenna Wright-Gallo to serve as Asst. Education Sec. for Special Education & Rehabilitative Services. The post has been without a Senate-confirmed official since 2019.
Sen. Feinstein has said she will not run for reelection next year but plans to fulfill her obligation, which ends in early 2025, then retire. We'll see how it goes, but I'm really glad she hasn't let anyone force her out before she was done serving. It's her responsibility, as so many reminded us in the past weeks, but it's also her right as an elected senator from California to finish out her term.
I don't really expect the internet to be kind to the jarring images of the still-ailing senator, but I do expect decent people to stand up and defend our own Democratic legislator against the despicable remarks about her appearance, especially since many of the same very likely participated in the haranguing that demanded she return before she was fully healed.
The dragging of Sen. Feinstein took off here after a bogus 'PoliticalWire' post about a bogus Politico article claiming she wasn't going to return. This return makes ALL of that clickbait reporting a dirty lie.
I don't know, as Rep. Pelosi remarked, "what political agendas are at work that are going after Sen. Feinstein in that way," but I agree with the former Speaker that, "Sen, Feinstein has been a champion for California for 20 years... and I have seen up close and first-hand her great leadership for the country, but most importantly for the state of California.
No one should get away with continuing to drag this courageous woman now that she's wheeled her way back to stand up for our party and the people and issues our Senate majority represent. This is the ultimate dedication to duty, as others perfectly able and present refuse to do the same.
You don't need to bother anymore with measuring the amount of time lost to her illness. Now people who are sincere in their concern for her work undone can begin anew, counting the continuing contributions of her long and consequential career.
Dick Durbin letter to the editor: "Senate Judiciary Committee is quickly advancing nominees"
___In her April 20 Opinion column, “Senate Democrats need to play hardball,” Jennifer Rubin argued that my “appeals to shameless Republicans have accomplished nothing” when it comes to confirming federal judges.
The facts speak otherwise.
During the 117th Congress (2021 to 2022), the Senate Judiciary Committee accomplished a record-breaking rate of judicial confirmations during the longest evenly divided Senate and committee in history. In total, we advanced 126 judicial nominees from committee, and the Senate confirmed 97. Importantly, these were historically diverse nominees, in both their professional and demographic backgrounds, including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman and first former public defender to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Since January, the Senate has confirmed an additional 22 federal judges — 19 with bipartisan support — bringing the total under the Biden administration to 119. There are 26 more nominees out of committee and ready for floor votes.
It also is important to note that the blue-slip process — which allows a senator to place a hold on a judge nominated in his or her state — allowed Democrats to play a role in the selection of nearly half of the district court judges confirmed during the Trump administration. Now, some Senate Republicans have also displayed a willingness to work with the Biden White House on judicial nominations. Already this year, the committee has held hearings for nominees to the Southern District of Indiana, the District of Idaho and the Eastern District of Louisiana, all of whom have support from their Republican home-state senators. More are to come.
The effort to bring balance to the courts has been one of this Senate’s great successes.
Richard J. Durbin, Washington
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/01/durbin-senate-judiciary-committee-nominees/
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