raised Dems’ doubts about Feinstein
WASHINGTON — With California Sen. Dianne Feinstein facing calls from the left to step down from her role leading Democrats on a key committee, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declined to guarantee she will stay put.
“I’ve had a long and serious talk with Sen. Feinstein,” Schumer said Tuesday. “That’s all I’m going to say about it right now.”
The New York Democrat was asked at his weekly news conference to respond to the critHearings
icism leveled at Feinstein after the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings last week for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump has nominated to the Supreme Court.
Schumer refused to expand on his remarks. His office and Feinstein’s office declined requests for further comment.
Progressives took aim at Feinstein after the conclusion of last week’s testimony. They were already dissatisfied that Democrats had not done more to portray Republicans’ rush to confirm Barrett before the election as illegitimate, when a remark by Feinstein set them off.“This has been one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in,” Feinstein told panel Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS. C. “I want to thank you for your fairness. ... Thank you so much for your leadership.” Then the two shared a hug.
Leftleaning groups seized on it as evidence that Feinstein isn’t confrontational enough toward Republicans, and said she either needs to relinquish the top Democratic position on the committee or be replaced by her party’s caucus. Such calls are likely to gain urgency if Democrats take control of the Senate in next month’s elections and Feinstein is in position to become chair of the committee, which handles confirmation proceedings for federal judges.
Feinstein “has undercut Democrats’ position at every step of this process, from undermining calls for filibuster and court reform straight through to thanking Republicans for the most egregious partisan power grab in the modern history of the Supreme Court,” Brian Fallon, a former Democratic aide who runs Demand Justice, an organization that works to push the judiciary to the left, said after the hearings.
In one of the most prominent breaks with the senator, the abortion rights group NARAL ProChoice America released a statement from its president saying it was time for Democrats to install a new leader on the committee.
The Barrett nomination “is illegitimate and this process is a sham,” said Ilyse Hogue, the organization’s president. Feinstein “failed to make this clear and in fact offered an appearance of credibility to the proceedings that is wildly out of step with the American people. As such, we believe the committee needs new leadership.”
Rep. Katie Porter, DIrvine, a firstterm progressive who is seen as a rising star in the party, told the Huffington Post that she “disagreed strongly” with Feinstein’s comments to Graham, saying the hearings weren’t “even acceptable.”
Even before the hearing, Feinstein had faced skepticism from progressive groups, including Demand Justice, which argued she is no longer capable of leading Democrats in an era when partisan brawling is more common than collegiality. Politico quoted anonymous colleagues as questioning whether the 87yearold Feinstein was still up for the job.
Feinstein put out a statement last week saying she intended to vote “no” on Barrett’s nomination and that the committee showed “what’s at stake” in its hearings — namely, Democrats’ message that Republicans were hurrying to confirm the appeals court judge in time to help overturn the Affordable Care Act in an upcoming Supreme Court case.
“The Senate is structured so the majority had absolute control over this ( confirmation) process,” Feinstein said. “When Republicans signaled they’d move ahead in the face of all objections, the only thing we could do was show this nominee would radically alter the court, and we accomplished that.”
On Tuesday, Feinstein had one defender in Graham, who said he was shocked at the calls for the California Democrat to step down.
“Some people, it’s not whether you agree with them — you have to hate the people they hate,” Graham said. “That’s a race to the bottom. Dianne — I feel terrible, I really do. She’s a good person.”