Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing Begins With Raucous Protests, Democrats’ Opposition

By Ted Johnson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – WASHINGTON — Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing got off to a raucous start on Monday, as Democrats immediately objected and asked for a delay over the refusal of the White House to release a trove of documents related to his past tenure in President George W. Bush’s administration.

More than a dozen times, protesters in the galley shouted as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) attempted to bring the proceedings to order and later to deliver opening remarks.

Capitol Police officers escorted the demonstrators out of the room, as the protesters tried to shout that Kavanaugh’s confirmation would threaten women’s rights, LGBT rights, and voting rights, as well as health care and checks on presidential power. Many times, a protester was ejected, and then a new demonstrator would fill the seat.

Democrats said that a delay of the hearing was essential because more than 102,000 pages of documents are being withheld from the committee based on White House claims of constitutional privilege.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said “there is no valid claim there of executive privilege.”

“What is the rush? What are we trying to hide by not having the documents out front?” said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who also noted that there was also a “document dump” of more than 40,000 pages just on Sunday night.

“Just on the basic ideals of fairness, the traditions of this body, we should have a thorough understanding of the nominee before us,” he said.

Grassley refused to allow a vote to delay the hearing. He defended the confirmation process, but at times seemed irritated as Democrats pressed their points.

“How long do you want this to go on?” he asked at one point.

He said that all of the senators would get ample time to ask questions and make statements, and that the hearings would extend into the weekend if needed.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that the hearing was being “based on mob rule…It is hard to take it seriously when every single one of our colleagues have announced their opposition to this nominee even before the hearing.”

He also said that Kavanaugh’s work as staff secretary in the Bush White House would “teach us nothing about his legal views.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said that Kavanaugh was “no ideologue, no extremist” who will bring thoughtful reasoning to the court and was “well within the judicial mainstream.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said that the acrimony “is nothing more and nothing less than an attempt by my Democratic colleagues to re-litigate the 2016 election.” He said that voters in 2016 made their preferences for judicial appointments clear.

In the hour before the hearing, a long line snaked outside the hearing room in the Hart Senate Office building for visitors trying to get a seat, while a group of demonstrators dressed in handmaid’s costumes akin to those on “A Handmaid’s Tale” lined balconies that overlook the building’s atrium. They are demonstrating against the potential for Kavanaugh to be the decision vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

As the senators argued back and forth, Kavanaugh sat in a witness chair and watched. He occasionally jotted down notes. He is expected to give an opening statement later on Monday.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told reporters before the hearing that 93% of the records for Kavanaugh’s tenure in the White House have not been provided to the Senate and 96% are “hidden to the public.”

Feinstein, the ranking member of the committee, told Kavanaugh that his “reasoning is far outside the mainstream of legal thought,” citing his view on gun rights and the Second Amendment.

Nevertheless, the focus of most of the Democrats was that the hearing was not following regular order compared to past confirmation processes.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Conn.) said to Kavanaugh, “You shouldn’t even be sitting in front of me today.” He also cited the Republicans refusal to meet with Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s nominee for the in 2016. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declined to take up the nomination because it came during a presidential election year.

Leahy, too, was interrupted by protesters, even though he has been critical of Kavanaugh’s nomination, condemned the outburst.

The divisiveness surrounding Kavanaugh’s nomination was reflected in an ABC News/Washington Post poll showing that he was among the least popular nominees at this point in the confirmation process. Just 38% said that he should be confirmed, while 39% said he should not be, while 23% had no opinion.

Kavanaugh, a judge on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, would succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement in June. As Kennedy is regarded as the high court’s swing vote, Kavanaugh’s nomination triggered a summer of protests from civil rights, labor and other groups.

Democrats are expected to focus on a host of issues, but also what Kavanaugh has said about presidential authority at a time of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 election, and whether members of President Trump’s team colluded with sources linked to Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“If you are in that seat because the White House has big expectations that you will protect the president from the due process of law, that should give every senator pause,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) pointed to a Minnesota Law Review article that Kavanaugh authored in 2009 in which he wrote that Congress “might consider a law exempting a President—while in office—from criminal prosecution and investigation, including from questioning by criminal prosecutors or defense counsel.”

“It is a simple concept we learned in grade school that no one is above the law,” Klobuchar said.

As the committee took a break, Kavanaugh was confronted by Fred Guttenberg, the father Jamie Guttenberg, among the victims in the Parkland, Fla. high school shooting massacre in February. Cameras showed Guttenberg attempting to shake Kavanaugh’s hand, but Kavanaugh declined.

Raj Shah, a spokesman for the White House, said security intervened before Kavanaugh was able to shake his hand.

Another clip showed that Guttenberg attempted to explain that he was the father of a Parkland victim.