(The GOP has just about uniformly dismissed the ethical concerns around Thomas and Neil Gorsuch as partisan attacks on a conservative court.) But Feinstein’s return will give more teeth to Democrats’ demands, which they spelled out in letters sent to Crow and his holding companies Monday seeking information about other undisclosed “gifts, transactions, and items of value” he exchanged with Thomas. And her return will hardly help Senate Democrats clear the 60-vote threshold required to actually pass legislation that would force the Supreme Court to adopt a stronger code of ethics.

The questions surrounding Feinstein and her capacity to serve aren’t going to disappear with her return to the Hill this week.

“It is a challenge in the Senate Judiciary Committee to do our business,” Durbin acknowledged to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

Without Feinstein, the committee was split 10-10, not only presenting a challenge in confirming President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees, but also preventing Democrats from, say, compelling Roberts to testify after he turned down their invitation to appear at a hearing last week. But Democrats on the panel have had their hands tied by the 89-year-old Feinstein’s months-long leave from Washington, which triggered calls for her resignation from some within the party. “We think all the justices should be held to the same standard, at least of the other courts in the United States,” as Durbin told me last week. The party has been demanding information from Chief Justice John Roberts following a series of damning revelations about Thomas and his billionaire benefactor, Harlan Crow-and has renewed calls for reform in order to restore the high court’s integrity. Dianne Feinstein is finally back in Washington after a lengthy absence, giving Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee their majority power-and their power of subpoena, which Chair Dick Durbin should use as part of his effort to rein in Clarence Thomas and the rogue Supreme Court.

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