NonilexApr 23, 2025

#Illinois #Democrat Senator #DickDurbin, No.2 #Senate Dem & a leading #liberal voice, to retire after 44 years in #Congress

#Durbin retiring will fundamentally reshape how #immigration is debated in the Senate. For decades, he's played a leading role in shaping immigration policy (he was behind the first push for the Dream Act over 20 years ago).

#law #legislation #LegislativeBranch #USpol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/us/dick-durbin-retires-senate.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=6F0C39E6-2591-4197-B6F2-1F78E333F509

Durbin, No. 2 Senate Democrat, to Retire After 44 Years in Congress

Senator Richard J. Durbin’s departure will set off a primary for a rare open Senate seat in Illinois and open a top leadership slot. He said it was time to “face reality” and make way for someone new.

The New York Times
Show threadNonilex

…Sen #DickDurbin, who is in his fifth #Senate term, said it was not an easy choice to step away from his prime perch doing battle with #Trump, whom he considers a dire #threat to #democracy. He described moments in recent days “where I thought, ‘Man, I don’t want to miss this fight.’”

“But you know,” he continued, “I have to be honest about this. There are good people in the wings, good people on the bench ready to serve, & they can fight this fight just as effectively as I can.…”

#law #USpol

Apr 23, 2025 at 3:52pmWeb
Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025

#Durbin’s departure will reverberate in the #Senate, where he played a prominent role on a host of big issues & was considered a forceful advocate of party positions. He was among the first to push for a path to #citizenship for some #undocumented immigrants brought to the #UnitedStates illegally as children, a group that came to be known as #Dreamers that became the focal point of successive failed efforts to overhaul #immigration laws.

#law #legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy #USpol

Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025

…A longtime force on the #Judiciary Cmte, Mr. #Durbin became its chair in 2021, resisting calls from progressives that he make room for a younger member given his leadership role & other #legislative responsibilities.

He subsequently oversaw the confirmation of 235 federal #judges during the Biden admin—including one #SCOTUS justice—surpassing by one the number of judges confirmed by #Republicans during an aggressive push in #Trump’s first term.

#law #legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy

Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025

#Durbin …has also forged close relationships w/some #Republicans, including Sen #ChuckGrassley of Iowa, who has been chairman of the #Judiciary Cmte in periods when Durbin was the top #Democrat.

The two pushed a #criminal #justice overhaul that overcame Republican resistance to be signed into #law by #Trump during his first term, leading to the early release of thousands of prisoners who had their sentences recalculated.

#law #legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy #USpol

Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025

In celebrating the sixth anniversary of that #law, the #FirstStepAct, in December, #Durbin noted that less than 10% of the 40k prisoners released under the law, many of them drug offenders, had been rearrested or jailed, far less than the typical #recidivism rate.

#legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy #USpol

Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025

#Durbin was an early critic of the #war in #Iraq, voting against the 2002 authorization for military force. He criticized the mistreatment of detainees at the US military prison in #GuantánamoBay, Cuba, as comparable to the acts of “Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings” & later apologized for a “poor choice of words.”

#law #HumanRights #legislation #LegislativeBranch #democracy #USpol

Show threadNonilexApr 23, 2025
In 2001, #Durbin introduced the #DreamAct w/Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), in an effort to create a path to #citizenship for younger #undocumented #immigrants who had been brought to the US as children. It never became #law, but it laid the foundation for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [#DACA] program, which was announced by President #Obama in 2012 & protected hundreds of thousands of immigrants from #deportation. #Trump has tried to end the program, & it remains under legal threat.
Show threadJustKathyApr 23, 2025

@Nonilex

Oh, good, Durbin's retiring. Now if we could only get rid of Schumer, at least as Minority Leader.

Show threadzemsgramApr 23, 2025
@Nonilex Great respect for Dick Durbin but also great respect for his decision to step aside. We need to bring younger people up and I say this as a senior myself. There are other people who can come in with a fresh perspective and a great deal of energy that is so urgently needed. Times have changed. One of the great things about George Washington was that he knew when to step aside.
Show threadJustKathyApr 23, 2025

@Nonilex

As chair of the judiciary committee, he could have pushed for the prosecution of Thomas and Alito, along with other Trump SCOTUS appointees who lied under oath about Roe. v. Wade.

Show threadJustKathyApr 23, 2025

@Nonilex

If Durbin saw Trump as that much of a threat, there were a whole lot of things he could have done, including standing with other Dem Senators on the government shutdown, instead of caving.