Feinstein absence blocks push for supreme court chief Thomas testimony

Dianne Feinstein’s empty seat at a judiciary committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on 19 April 2023. Photograph: Sarah Silbiger/Reuters

Asked if he would subpoena the chief justice of the US supreme court for testimony over corruption allegations against the conservative justice Clarence Thomas, the chair of the Senate judiciary committee made clear his frustration with a continued absence from the panel that has left Democrats unable to make such a move.

“It takes a majority,” Dick Durbin of Illinois said on Thursday. “I don’t have a majority.”