By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--July 17, 2018
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Saturday that the vetting process for the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court will be “incredibly difficult,’’ and that her staff is reading nearly 1 million documents that she said could give red-state Democrats reason to oppose his nomination. Feinstein made her toughest comments to date about opposing Kavanaugh’s nomination while addressing a “Unity Breakfast” of her supporters at a California Democratic Party executive Committee meeting in Oakland. State party activists will decide later Saturday on an endorsement in Feinstein’s race against progressive state Sen. Kevin de León. Reminding supporters of her seniority in the Senate and her leadership position on the Judiciary Committee, Feinstein said she has helped write the party’s modern-day battle plan for a Supreme Court confirmation. She said that she has sat in on more than 10 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices since she was elected in 1992. But Kavanaugh’s nomination, Feinstein said, “is beyond, [it is] different from all of them. … Because this man will be the deciding vote on most things we hold most dear.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein has shrugged off a chorus of calls from within her party to step aside, arguing that her seniority and past achievements make her better qualified to represent California than a challenger decades her junior. Now she’s going to have a chance to prove it. As the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the coming confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Feinstein is about to take on a lead role in the biggest partisan battle of this election year. She’ll do so with a more progressive foe nipping at her heels back home — her general election opponent, state Sen. Kevin de León, overwhelmingly won the state party’s endorsement over the weekend — and a pair of rising-star Democrats on the committee, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, setting a pugnacious tone for the confirmation clash.
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