--- title: Hillary Clinton Says Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Resign description: Hillar Clinton said Dianne Feinstein's resignation wouldn't be "worth the tradeoff," since it would impede Biden's judicial appointments. canonical: https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-05-24T00:56:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:13.051Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton: Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Retire og:description: Clinton said Feinstein shouldn't retire because of the "tradeoff" on confirming judges. og:url: https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf59fb1275735457f/698a3d49b3fce368b10ca7fe/1_HRC-_PC_David_Kindler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7727 og:image:height: 4346 og:image:alt: 1_HRC _PC_David_Kindler og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton: Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Retire twitter:description: Clinton said Feinstein shouldn't retire because of the "tradeoff" on confirming judges. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf59fb1275735457f/698a3d49b3fce368b10ca7fe/1_HRC-_PC_David_Kindler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton: Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Retire > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Says He’s Sending Negotiators to White House to Finish Debt Limit Talks [Watch (HLS stream): House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Says He’s Sending Negotiators to White House to Finish Debt Limit Talks](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jh0ctZfW.m3u8) (2:13)  _Published 2023-05-24. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he's sending Republican negotiators to the White House to finish out debt limit talks. But he's warning that the two sides are “still far apart” as they try to reach a budget deal with President Joe Biden._  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 24, 2023 12:56 AM UTC  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and TIME senior correspondent Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival on May 22. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and TIME senior correspondent Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival on May 22. David T Kindler, courtesy of the Chicago Humanities Festival  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 24, 2023 12:56 AM UTC Secretary Hillary Clinton defended her friend and former colleague Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose advanced age and failing health have [prompted calls for her to resign](https://time.com/6278008/dianne-feinstein-senate-legacy-durbin/) from the Senate, saying that Feinstein’s resignation would not be “worth the tradeoff” when it comes to judicial appointments. In a wide-ranging interview Monday at the Chicago Humanities Festival, I asked the former Secretary of State why so many of her fellow Democrats were staying in office well into their 80s, even as the party has strengthened its bench of young talent. I specifically asked about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who refused to retire under a Democratic president and whose [death at age 87 in September 2020 ](https://time.com/5660188/ruth-bader-ginsburg-dies/)gave President Donald Trump a third Supreme Court appointment, and Feinstein, age 89, whose absence from the Senate for months has prompted questions about her fitness to serve. Clinton said she had a “very negative response” to my question. “Let me say a word about my friend and longtime colleague Dianne Feinstein,” she continued. “First of all, she has suffered greatly from the bout of shingles and encephalitis that she endured. Here is the dilemma for her: she got reelected, the people of California voted for her again, not very long ago. That was the voters’ decision to vote for her, and she has been a remarkable and very effective leader.” --- ### More from TIME --- “Here’s the dilemma: the Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires,” she continued, referencing Feinstein’s powerful committee membership. (When Feinstein was absent from the Senate for nearly three months this year recovering from health issues, it created a logjam on the narrowly divided Judiciary Committee, since Democrats were unable to confirm President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees without Republican support.) “I want you to think about how crummy that is. I don’t know in her heart about whether she really would or wouldn’t, but right now, she can’t. Because if we’re going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.” “If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, well this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer… of course we will let you fill this position if she retires. But they won’t say that,” she continued. “So what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: fine, we get no more judges? I don’t think that’s a good tradeoff.” **Read More:** [_Why Dianne Feinstein Shouldn’t Quit_](https://time.com/6281088/dianne-feinstein-quit-supreme-court/) When I asked her again about the broader question of whether Democrats have allowed their leadership to get too old, she pushed back. “I do not believe in broad questions about age,” Clinton, age 75, said, adding that she also didn’t believe in term limits. “If you don’t want to vote for somebody, don’t vote for them. But don’t impose some artificial check on the voters. I don’t buy this whole debate. And frankly, a lot of the people pushing it, I don’t understand what their real agenda is, because part of it is a bank shot against Joe Biden. And I think Joe Biden has done a very good job.” The comments came shortly after Clinton appeared at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington D.C., where she was asked about the moment Biden, age 80, almost fell during the [G-7 summit in Japan](https://time.com/6281614/ukraine-zelensky-g7-china/). There, she acknowledged his age could be an issue in the election. “Well, I mean, it’s a concern for anyone. And we’ve had presidents who’ve fallen before who are a lot younger, and people didn’t go into heart palpitations,” Clinton [responded](https://www.ft.com/video/3144d304-66c0-4670-a95f-cb5157f3a01b). “But his age is an issue. And people have every right to consider it.” At the Chicago Humanities Festival, Clinton did not mince words when she spoke about former President Donald Trump, age 76, currently [running for president again in 2024](https://time.com/6256382/who-is-running-for-president-2024/). “You have to think of him not as a former president or even as a presidential candidate so much as a cult leader,” she said. “He has a hold on a significant portion of the Republican Party.” “He will most likely be the Republican nominee again,” she continued. “And be defeated by Joe Biden again.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton: Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Retire","datePublished":"2023-05-24T00:56:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:51:13.051Z","description":"In an interview with TIME at the Chicago Humanities Festival, Clinton said Feinstein shouldn't retire because of the \"tradeoff\" on confirming judges.","url":"https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/","keywords":["Congress","News","uspoliticspolicy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf59fb1275735457f/698a3d49b3fce368b10ca7fe/1_HRC-_PC_David_Kindler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf59fb1275735457f/698a3d49b3fce368b10ca7fe/1_HRC-_PC_David_Kindler.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1_HRC _PC_David_Kindler","caption":"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and TIME senior correspondent Charlotte Alter at the Chicago Humanities Festival on May 22.","creditText":"David T Kindler, courtesy of the Chicago Humanities Festival","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6282121/hillary-clinton-dianne-feinstein-shouldnt-retire/","name":"Hillary Clinton: Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Retire"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Says He’s Sending Negotiators to White House to Finish Debt Limit Talks","description":"House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he's sending Republican negotiators to the White House to finish out debt limit talks. 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