"Both sides play this game to their own detriment, and to the detriment of the process," Feingold (D-Wis.) said in an interview. "How can people know, right off the bat, how they're going to come down?"

"I think it's fine to flag some concerns," Feingold said in the interview.

But he said he felt he had an obligation to do "due diligence" before deciding how to vote — including meeting with Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.