Dianne Feinstein applauded on return to Judiciary Committee

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was welcomed back to the chamber’s Judiciary Committee with applause Thursday morning, a day after the 89-year-old returned to Capitol Hill while “still experiencing some side effects” from a case of shingles.

Feinstein’s chair was empty for a little more than an hour following the start of a committee meeting to consider nominations for federal judgeships as well as four Senate bills.

“I believe I speak for all of us with the feelings of relief and support for our colleague Sen. Feinstein, who has returned to Washington. I know that she’s been through some significant health challenges, and we’re all wishing her the very best,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) at the top of the meeting.

“We have a number of items on today’s agenda, including seven judicial nominees who have previously been held over. I intend to call them shortly and if Sen. Feinstein arrives, we may be able to take up those additional nominees very quickly,” Durbin added.

The California Democrat did indeed arrive and requested three earlier proxy votes Durbin took in her stead be recorded as her own. Feinstein then cast her own in-person vote for three more nominees.

Feinstein has been absent from the Senate for more than two months, scrambling Democrats’ efforts to confirm President Biden’s nominees to the federal bench. Her comeback restores the full Democratic complement of 51 senators after Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) returned to Capitol Hill in mid-April following treatment for depression.

Durbin, the Senate Majority Whip, had faced criticism from members of his own party for keeping Feinstein’s committee seat vacant after Republicans objected to a temporary replacement.

Some House Democrats also called on Feinstein to resign, months after reports indicated that her cognitive abilities were in decline.

On Thursday, Politico reported that a Senate aide once saw Feinstein confuse Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) with Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), both of whom are black.

A spokesman for Scott declined to comment on the incident. Feinstein’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Upon her return to the Senate Wednesday, Feinstein said in a statement she had “made significant progress” but was “still experiencing some side effects from the shingles virus.”

“My doctors have advised me to work a lighter schedule as I return to the Senate,” she said.

Her office noted she was experiencing “vision and balance impairments” and will need a wheelchair temporarily to move about Congress.

The ex-San Francisco mayor was briefly hospitalized in late February before retiring to her home in the city to recover on March 6.