It’s not clear that a different approach would have pushed Ginsburg out when Barack Obama might have been able to replace her. But you could hardly blame Democrats for lamenting that series of events. So activists and a small number of Democratic lawmakers applied more pressure on Justice Stephen G. Breyer to retire, and he did, last year.
They’re now confronting a somewhat similar situation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and the effort is even more overt than it was with Breyer.
But they’re also discovering there are no easy answers here. And the situation has taken a turn for the ugly, leading to some uncomfortable conversations about politics, age and even gender that could reverberate in the months and years to come.
[It’s been ugly around Feinstein for at least the last few years, following the Amy Coney Barrett SCOTUS confirmation hearings. It’s just become more acute the last couple of weeks. — Ed]
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