Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court Nomination Hearing Has Been Overrun With Protesters
Protesters have disrupted the opening minutes of hearings to confirm Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, with some dressed as characters from the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale, representing Kavanaugh’s hardline stance on abortion.
As The Daily Mail reports, the first 15 minutes of today’s hearing were drowned out by shouting protesters, who were removed one by one as another would start shouting as his or her peer was being removed from the room.
Many focused on Kavanaugh’s anti-abortion record.
“Please vote no!”
“Roe yes! Kava-nope!”
Some used the occasion to express their thoughts about Donald Trump and his administration in general.
“An illegitimate president cannot make an appointment to Supreme Court!”
“This should be an impeachment proceeding!”
As Capitol Police escorted the shouting protesters out of the room, Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa repeatedly banged on his gavel, demanding order.
Meanwhile, even some Democratic Senators refused to let the hearing get started, demanding that Grassley adjourn the hearings before they even began. That’s because the Senate has not had time to review some 42,000 Kavanaugh-related documents that were just made available on Monday night.
According to Fox News, Republican Senator John Cornyn opined that, if the proceedings were a regular court hearing, those Democrat Senators disrupting the hearing would be held in contempt of court.
“Because this whole process is supposed to be a civil one where people get to ask questions and we get to get answers, and that’s the basis we’re to exercise our constitutional responsibilities of advice and consent so I would just suggest we got on with the hearing.”
Grassley, for his part, threatened to make the Senators work overtime this weekend if the hearings could not be brought under control, according to CNN.
“We are going to be in session Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday till we get done this week, so however long people want to take we’re going to not necessarily accommodate all obstruction.”
Outside the Hart Senate Office Building, women could be seen dressed in costumes from The Handmaid’s Tale. The Hulu series, based on the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel, imagines a dystopian future in which the dictatorial government is run by evangelical Christians, and women have no rights.
Protesters dress in Handmaid's Tale outfits outside Kavanaugh hearing https://t.co/2gTWu0VXfT pic.twitter.com/UqbqgA0T9P
— The Hill (@thehill) September 4, 2018
Kavanaugh is widely believed to be the vote conservatives need on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that essentially legalized abortion in all 50 states. However, according to CNN, Kavanaugh has not outright come out in opposition to the ruling.
