The Senate Judiciary Committee will lose one of its stalwarts with the death of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who carved out part of her legacy with high-profile work on the historically male-dominated panel.
Feinstein and Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois etched their names into committee history as the first women members, a move that followed the highly contentious confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991 that featured Anita Hill’s sexual harassment accusations against Thomas.
Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor, was elected to the Senate in 1992 — dubbed the Year of the Woman because a then-unprecedented four women were elected to the Senate that year. She would spend nearly three decades on the panel.
