Feinstein Speaks on Bress Ninth Circuit Nomination

Washington—Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today spoke about her concerns with the nomination of Daniel Bress to fill a California seat on the Ninth Circuit. Bress spent one year living in California since he graduated high school.

            “Moving forward with an out-of-state nominee, over the objections of home-state senators, is a dangerous precedent and I fear it’s going to go down just as blue slips have gone down.

            “As Senator Whitehouse has pointed out, once this door is opened, all of our states are subject to having out-of-state nominees confirmed. Today, it’s a Virginia lawyer in California. Next it could be a California lawyer confirmed in Texas or South Carolina.”

            “The chairman has said repeatedly he would not take kindly to a lawyer from outside South Carolina being nominated to his state. Moving forward today opens this door – and we have all seen, that once a tradition, a precedent, a practice over many years is disregarded, it does not come back.”

            Video of her remarks is available here.