Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) defended her questioning of a Catholic judicial nominee where she said the "dogma" lives within her, saying Sunday the judge's past writings were "questionable."
During a confirmation hearing on Sept. 6 for federal judge nominee and Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett, Feinstein said Barrett's past writings showed the "dogma lives loudly within you."
That comment and Sen. Dick Durbin's (D., Ill.) question of whether Barrett was an "orthodox Catholic" stoked criticism from the right and the left for giving a religious test to President Donald Trump's nominee.
Bringing up the controversy Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," host Dana Bash asked Feinstein for an explanation for her remarks.
Feinstein said she was a product of Catholic education and called it a "great religion," touting she's tried to be helpful to the church anywhere she could.
However, she said, the nominee in this case had no trial or court experience and thus "no record."
"She's a professor, which is fine, but all we have to look at are her writings, and in her writings, she makes some statements which are questionable, which deserve questions," Feinstein said.
Feinstein said Barrett's past writings made it appropriate to ask her about the role of her faith.
Barrett's nomination has enjoyed bipartisan support. In addition to her academic career, she clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and in 2010, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed her to the Advisory Committee for the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, where she served for six years, according to the Daily Signal.