Donald Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has declared at his Senate confirmation hearing that the court “must never, never be viewed as a partisan institution.” But that was at the end of a marathon day marked by rancorous exchanges between Democrats and Republicans, including dire Democratic fears that he would be the president's advocate on the high court.
The week of hearings on Mr Kavanaugh's nomination began with a sense of inevitability that the 53-year-old appellate judge eventually will be confirmed, given the Republican majority in the Senate.
However, the first of at least four days of hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee began with partisan quarrelling over the nomination and persistent protests from members of the audience, followed by their arrests.
Follow the latest updates from the first day of the hearing here:
Live Updates
Why are Democrats concerned?
How could this affect the Russia probe?
Torture and surveillance issues
All ten Democrats serving in the Senate Judiciary Committee are holding a press conference to discuss “the extraordinary lengths Senate Republicans have gone to in order to keep Brett Kavanaugh’s records hidden from the Senate and American public,” according to Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.
In her prepared remarks, the senator said, “93 per cent 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."
As Democratic senators plan to press Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh has vowed to to be “a neutral and impartial arbiter”.
According to prepared remarks Mr Kavanaugh plans to read during this week’s testimony, the judge will say, "A good judge must be an umpire - a neutral and impartial arbiter who favours no litigant or policy”.
Read the latest on the judge’s expected statements here.
Activists have taken to the halls of the Hart Senate Building just before Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings begin this week. The female activists arrived dressed in red robes and donning large white hats to cover their identities — attire symbolic of the fictional book by Margaret Atwood, Handmaid’s Tale.
The costumes have been a popular theme in protests across Donald Trump’s America, as demonstrators attempt to put a spotlight on the president’s supposedly oppressive agenda against women’s rights.
Kamala Harris, a Democratic senator from Califronia, led a movement at the very beginning of Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearing to stop the event from happening, leading to protestors screaming “This is an obstruction of justice!” in the middle of the room.
A state of pandemonium quickly followed, as multiple Democrats demanded a roll call, including Richard Blumenthal and Corey Booker. Protestors cheered as Democrats impeded on the hearings from moving forward.
Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, rebuked Mr Booker and immediately denied a roll call vote.
"I ask that you stop so we can conduct this hearing the way that we planned it,” Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said as Democrats demanded a halt on Brett Kavanauigh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings. “I think we ought to give the American people the chance to decide whether Brett Kavanaugh should be on the Supreme Court or not”.
The Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee provided prepared remarks demanding Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings continue after Democrats attempted to place a roll call vote on the issue.
Mr Kavanaugh then provided some remarks, highlighting his family and thanking the committee for providing the opportunity to meet with him.
“When will we review Senator Blumenthal’s motion to adjourn?” asked Kamala Harris, the first Democratic senator to interrupt today’s hearings and demand for a halt until the Senate Judiciary Committee could review more of Brett Kavanaugh’s documents.
The interruption then spurred Mr Blumenthal and Mr Booker to renew their calls for adjournment or a roll call.
Other Democrats also interrupted after Mr Kavanaugh’s opening statement, demanding more time to review the missing materials.
John Cornyn, a Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has demanded Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination hearings continue, suggesting those who attempt to obstruct be placed in “contempt of court”.
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee explained that he would allow the minority to continue voicing their demands, though he added "it gets pretty boring to hear the same thing" from each member demanding a halt of the process, when he has already said that would not happen.
Please allow a moment for the live stream to load
Strong Democratic opposition to Mr Trump's nominee reflects the political stakes for both parties in advance of the November elections, Robert Mueller's investigation of Mr Trump's 2016 campaign and the potentially pivotal role Mr Kavanaugh could play in moving the court to the right.
Democrats, including several senators poised for 2020 presidential bids, tried to block the proceedings in a dispute over records of Mr Kavanaugh's time working for former President George W Bush being withheld by the White House. Republicans in turn accused the Democrats of turning the hearing into a circus.
Mr Trump jumped into the fray late in the day, saying on Twitter that Democrats were “looking to inflict pain and embarrassment” on Mr Kavanaugh.
The president's comment followed the statements of Democratic senators who warned that Mr Trump was, in the words of Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, “selecting a justice on the Supreme Court who potentially will cast a decisive vote in his own case.”
In Mr Kavanaugh's own statement at the end of more than seven hours of arguing, the federal appeals judge spoke repeatedly about the importance of an independent judiciary and the need to keep the court above partisan politics, common refrains among Supreme Court nominees that had added salience in the fraught political atmosphere of the moment.
Associated Press
