Kavanaugh hearing off to raucous start as protesters shout down lawmakers

Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh began with protests Tuesday, as Democrats objected to what they say is a lack of critical information about the judge's record and demanded the proceedings be delayed.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was to hear Kavanaugh speak publicly for the first time since his nomination. Senators are expected to push Kavanaugh on various issues throughout the week including abortion, executive authority, and the Second Amendment.

In her opening statement, the top Democrat on the committee, Dianne Feinstein of California, raised concerns about Kavanaugh's dissent in a recent case while on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The issue was whether an undocumented minor in U.S. custody would be allowed to get an abortion. She said his dissent in the case, in which he argued it was not too much of a burden for the young woman to wait to have the abortion until she was moved from the detention facility to stay with a sponsor, mischaracterized Supreme Court precedent on abortion.

"The argument rewrites Supreme Court precedent and, if adopted, we believe, would require courts to determine whether a young woman had a sufficient support network when making her decision, even in cases where she has gone to court. This reason we believe, I believe, demonstrates that you are willing to disregard precedent, and if that's the case, because just saying something's settled law, is it really correct law?" Feinstein said.

More than an hour after chairman Chuck Grassley gaveled in the hearing and with protesters shouting in the background, Democrats objected, saying that a release of additional documents late Monday night did not give them enough time to properly vet the information.

Before the hearing began, Democrats said they were going to the hearings "under protest" as the Trump White House claimed executive privilege in withholding documents from Kavanaugh's time working at the White House under President George W. Bush.

"Democrats strongly object to moving forward when so much of his record remains secret. We are shocked at the efforts being taken to jam this nominee through and hide his record from the American public. We go to these hearings under protest," ranking member Feinstein said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

After protesters in the audience were removed and the room quieted down, Kavanaugh said, "I am honored to be here today" and introduced his family.

Protesters continued to interrupt as committee members delivered their opening statements. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, asked for a "loudmouth" protester to be removed while he spoke and said the committee shouldn't have to "put up with this kind of nonsense."

Grassley pushed back against the Democrats, saying that it is appropriate to withhold some of the documents from Kavanaugh's time at the White House because he was a senior lawyer whose advice to the president on issues should remain confidential. He said the committee has received 307 of Kavanaugh's written opinions, more than 10,000 pages of his writings, 17,000 pages of speeches, articles and other documents, and 483,000 pages of documents from his work at the White House.

"This committee has more materials for Judge Kavanaugh's nomination than we have had on any Supreme Court nominee in history. Senators have had more than enough time and materials to adequately assess Judge Kavanaugh's qualifications and so that's why I proceed," Grassley said.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said the Senate is not being the "conscience of the nation" and is not living up to the responsibility to vet Supreme Court nominees by holding a hearing before senators have seen 100 percent of documents related to Kavanaugh's past work.

He called the hearing "a sham."

"Judge Kavanaugh there are so many things wrong with this committee's vetting of your record, it's hard to know where to begin. I've been on this committee on both Republican and Democratic leadership. I never thought the committee would sink to this. In fact, you shouldn't be sitting in front of us today. You should be sitting in front of us only after we've completed a review of your record, your vetting is less than 10 percent complete. In critical ways our committee is abandoning its tradition of exhaustively vetting supreme court nominees," Leahy said.

Grassley said it was misleading to argue that the committee did not have enough information to evaluate Kavanaugh's record because they have more documents than made available for any other Supreme Court nominee, but Democrats argue that it still isn't the full picture.

Earlier, Grassley denied a vote on a motion from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., to adjourn the hearing, saying that the Democrats are out of order and it was not appropriate to bring up the motion during an open hearing.

As Democrats pressed their objections, Sen. John Cornyn, the committee's second-ranking Republican, said this was the first Supreme Court confirmation hearing held "according to mob rule."

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.

ABC News' Megan Hughes and Trish Turner contributed to this report.

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