Feinstein: Kagan would be 'mainstream breath' on Supreme Court

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Elena Kagan would be a "mainstream breath" on the Supreme Court.

"It will not be far right. It will not be far left. It will be in the middle," the Judiciary Committee member said on "Fox News Sunday."

But fellow Judiciary panel member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), while acknowledging that President Barack Obama would nominate a liberal to the court, said that he would have to be convinced in the hearings that start Monday that Kagan will not bring judicial activism to the bench.

"She'll have to convince me that all of this liberalism that she's lived with all her life can be put in a proper place and when she gets to be a judge she'll be left of center but within the mainstream of judging," Graham said.

Both senators agreed that Kagan was highly qualified to replace Justice John Paul Stevens, but Graham said there were questions about Kagan that needed to be answered.

"When it comes to the Supreme Court, we're going to have a challenging hearing, and I think she'll do well, but she's going to have to earn her way onto the court," he said.

"I believe the drift net has been out to find some disqualifying factor and it hasn't been found," Feinstein said.