General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Dear Senator Dianne Feinstein: This is not about you. [View all]onenote
(42,829 posts)Yes, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2009, but it was caught at an early stage -- she was out of the office for ten days. It wasn't until 2018 that her cancer returned and it was another two years before she died.
While some people, with the benefit of hindsight, believe she should have retired in 2012 or 2013 (apparently those people had advance notice that the Repubs would take control of the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016) -- or maybe even before that, when she was in her 70s (she was 75 when Obama was first elected). No one ever complains that Thurgood Marshall didn't retire before the 1980 election (when he was in his 70s and the Democrats controlled the Senate). He didn't do so and then he ended retiring in 1991, giving us Clarence Thomas. I have hear complaints that he shouldn't have retired at that time and waited until after 1992 election, which would have ended up with Clinton replacing him. Seems like a double standard.