Reconfiguring federal judiciary a top priority for Biden administration
As judicial vacancies go unfilled by salivating leftwing democrats who see an opportunity to remake the federal judiciary in their image, pivotal Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), has dug in her 89-year-old heels refusing to resign from the senate judiciary committee. Questions have long been raised by her colleagues about her mental acuity, as noted in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The aged California democrat hasn’t cast a senate vote in over a month when her office finally announced during her absence that she was hospitalized and recovering from shingles. The senate returns to session next week after a two-week recess, but Feinstein has been mum on providing any indication of when she might return to Washington.
Obviously under pressure to allow liberal judicial appointments to proceed, she concludes — via her staff — by “playing ball“ with this statement dated April 12, 2023: “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.”
This slickster language has been massaged, edited and revised. It’s a good bet she won’t be returning and her temporary “fill-in” will be appointed to her seat. These are D.C. dems, after all, and leave nothing to chance when it comes to crucial, lifetime judicial appointments.
Senate Republican leaders, not onboard with the democrat scheme, came out Monday against temporarily replacing Feinstein. Sen. John Cornyn, (R-TX), a senior member of the Judiciary Committee said he and his colleagues oppose the idea as it would help democrats advance judges on a party-line basis.
“These are, by definition, the most controversial nominees,” Cornyn was quoted as saying. “And if Democrats are depending strictly on their own party-line vote to get them out of committee…I don’t think there’s any appetite on our side to help what we consider to be controversial or unqualified nominees to get confirmed.”
Sen. Cornyn is a former Texas Supreme Court justice and elected attorney general.