Dianne Feinstein leaves a pathbreaking and complicated legacy

Trailblazing Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving female senator in US history, died on Thursday night, according to a family member. She was 90 years old, and had been facing calls to step down, given her fragile health and declining memory.

While in the Senate, she became the first female member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. She was also the first woman to chair both the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. She was the force behind the unfortunately now-lapsed federal assault weapons ban, and the 2014 torture report that revealed the many abuses of the CIA detention and interrogation program that happened during the Bush administration.

Feinstein’s legacy is, sadly, now a mixed one. She was an incredible breaker of glass ceilings, a pioneer for women in politics. And had she stepped aside and let someone else fill her shoes at the end of her career, today’s obituaries would be talking only about her many firsts and her many accomplishments. Instead, the news about her passing is punctuated with what it means for a looming government shutdown and a slim Democratic majority.