Trump\u2019s immigration order looms as a crucial flashpoint as the California senator, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, prepares to grill the president\u2019s choice.
Feinstein won\u2019t talk specifically about her plans. But she said Monday that in just the Trump administration\u2019s first week \u201cwe\u2019ve seen a flurry of executive orders and presidential declarations like none before \u2013 some broad, some seemingly unconstitutional, some unenforceable \u2013 and all deeply concerning in their intent and legality.\u201d
Feinstein\u2019s prominent role in cross-examining the nominee follows nationwide airport protests over Trump\u2019s order banning refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Legal challenges of those orders are expected to go to the Supreme Court and Trump\u2019s nominee is going to play a vital role. Feinstein, an 83-year-old who had a pacemaker installed three weeks ago, will be the national face of Democrats calling for a judicial check on Trump\u2019s power.
The Judiciary Committee has 11 Republicans and nine Democrats. Hearings are likely to begin later this winter, and if the committee approves the choice, it goes to the full Senate. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, chairs the panel. He\u2019s regarded as independent-minded but routinely sides with Republicans on judicial matters.
Feinstein will be leading a group of Democrats on the committee including aggressive questioners such as Al Franken of Minnesota, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
\u201cThere will be questions for the nominee about whether they believe these executive orders are consistent with the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cIt will be very, very significant in reflecting the nominee\u2019s understanding of the Constitution.\u201d
Liberal groups are cheered by how passionately Feinstein attacked Trump\u2019s executive orders as she voted against his nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, in the Judiciary Committee.
\u201cShe has always been an incredibly thoughtful senator, a senator who cares deeply about the issues that come before the Supreme Court,\u201d said Daniel Goldberg, legal director at the Alliance for Justice. \u201cIt\u2019s telling the type of leadership she showed on the Jeff Sessions nomination.\u201d
Republicans control 52 of the Senate\u2019s 100 seats. Feinstein has a tough job, as even Trump critics among the Republicans, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, are inclined to support his nominee.
\u201cI voted for (Democratic nominees) Sotomayor and Kagan because they were qualified. The list of nominees that he\u2019s talked about is a very qualified group of people, and if he chooses from that list then he deserves the same respect given to Sotomayor and Kagan,\u201d Graham said Monday.
The Senate split mostly on partisan lines in the confirmations of Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, with few Republicans voting to support them.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said it was wrong for Democrats to launch a \u201cpartisan crusade\u201d against Trump\u2019s Supreme Court nominee.
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if the president is George H. W. Bush or Gerald Ford,\u201d he said on the Senate floor Tuesday. \u201cThey\u2019ll warn of impending doom . they\u2019ll claim the end is nigh.\u201d
Feinstein opposed George W. Bush Supreme Court nominees John Roberts Jr. and Samuel Alito but broke with her party to support a controversial Bush federal appellate court nominee, Leslie Southwick. Feinstein is well prepared for hearings and avoids grandstanding, said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
Former San Francisco Chronicle editorial page editor Jerry Roberts, author of the biography \u201cDianne Feinstein: Never Let Them See You Cry,\u201d said Trump\u2019s executive orders struck at the heart of Feinstein\u2019s fastidious view of what she saw as correct government process.
\u201cThat\u2019s the kind of thing that drives her crazy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt goes back to Dianne, the girl at the Convent of the Sacred Heart school.\u201d
Roberts said Feinstein\u2019s role as the Democrats\u2019 leader in vetting Trump\u2019s nominee represented one of the most significant moments of her long Senate career.
\u201cIt\u2019s real legacy stuff, whether she decides to run again in two years or not,\u201d Roberts said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misspelled the last name of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.<\/p>\n