Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Notre Dame President Attacks Feinstein For ‘Chilling’ Grilling Of Catholic Nominee

When questioning appeals court judicial nominee Amy Coney Barrett, California Democrat Dianne Feinstein expressed her concern that “dogma lives loudly” within the would-be judge.

Now Feinstein’s comments made during a confirmation hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, are drawing a wave of criticism for their insensitivity toward people of faith and the suggestion that devout Catholics cannot be objective when enforcing the rule of law.

Red State reported on a letter sent to Feinstein by Rev. John I. Jenkins, president of Notre Damme, where Barrett is a law professor.

“I ask you and your colleagues to respect those in whom ‘dogma lives loudly’ — which is a condition we call faith,” Jenkins wrote. “For the attempt to live such faith while one upholds the law should command respect, not evoke concern.”

Feinstein also heard from Princeton University president Christopher Eisgruber, who is Jewish. He wrote to her asking that senators “refrain from interrogating nominees about the religious or spiritual foundations of their jurisprudential views.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.