Feinstein, Harris on Daniel Bress Nomination

Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris (both D-Calif.) today issued the following statement on Daniel Bress, President Trump’s nominee to a California seat on the Ninth Circuit:

            “Daniel Bress is a lawyer in the Washington, D.C., area. He’s the wrong nominee to fill a California seat on the Ninth Circuit.

            “Bress is not a part of California’s legal community. He attended law school and clerked for two federal judges on the East Coast. Apart from being admitted to practice in California, he’s not involved in any of the state’s legal or civic organizations and hasn’t been a member of the California legal community. Furthermore, he’s not familiar with the complicated, California-specific issues that regularly come before the Ninth Circuit. Bress has only lived in California for one year since he graduated high school.

            “During the Obama administration, senators were able to effectively exercise their power of ‘advise and consent’ because Republicans demanded their blue slips be treated as a veto. In fact, no nominee received even a hearing unless both home-state senators returned blue slips, regardless of party.

            “Over the last two years, the longstanding Senate tradition of the blue slip has been gutted at the Circuit Court level by Chairman Grassley and Chairman Graham. And now, Republicans are creating a terrible new precedent of allowing out-of-state nominees that will only further undermine the role of the Senate. We encourage Chairman Graham to reconsider this nominee.”

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