The confirmation hearing for US President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee has descended into “mob rule”, a Republican senator said.<\/p>\n
John Cornyn of Texas spoke out as Democrats demanded an adjournment and two dozen protesters were dragged out of the room in chaotic scenes.<\/p>\n
Brett Kavanaugh faces four days before the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n
If approved, he would be expected to tilt the court’s balance to the right.<\/p>\n
Minutes after Mr Kavanaugh, 53, entered the committee rooms on Tuesday, the hearing was disrupted by angry shouts from members of the public and lawmakers alike.<\/p>\n
The mostly female demonstrators shouted out that Mr Kavanaugh would allow President Trump to pardon himself.<\/p>\n
Others claimed the judge would let people with pre-existing medical conditions be stripped of medical coverage.<\/p>\n
“This is a travesty of justice!” shouted one. Another cried: “Our democracy is broken!”<\/p>\n
Amid the almost continuous disruption, Texas Republican John Cornyn said it was “the first confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice I’ve seen basically according to mob rule”.<\/p>\n
Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa bridled at the suggestion he had lost control of the proceedings.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has refused to release thousands of documents about the conservative federal appeals court judge’s work for President George W Bush.<\/p>\n
The White House cited “constitutional privilege”.<\/p>\n
Democrats are demanding they be allowed to review the 100,000 documents about Mr Kavanaugh’s record.<\/p>\n
They are also up in arms that some 42,000 documents were released to the committee just on the eve of the hearing.<\/p>\n
Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey said they would have had to read 7,000 pages an hour overnight just to review the files shared on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
But the panel chairman refused to delay the process.<\/p>\n
Vermont’s Democrat Patrick Leahy said it was the “least transparent vetting for any Supreme Court nominee I have ever seen”.<\/p>\n
But Republican Senator Orrin Hatch dismissed the concerns raised about the judge as “ridiculous”.<\/p>\n
Democrats have warned that Mr Trump’s choice will usher in a more socially conservative approach to abortion, gay rights and gun control.<\/p>\n
Senior Democrat Dianne Feinstein questioned in her opening remarks on Tuesday whether the nominee would leave the landmark Roe v Wade abortion law untouched if confirmed.<\/p>\n
The nine-justice court has until now been balanced between conservatives and liberals, with Anthony Kennedy considered the “swing vote”. He retired in July.<\/p>\n
They are also concerned about his argument in a 2009 legal article that a sitting president should be immune to prosecution.<\/p>\n
Republicans have a slim majority in the 100-seat upper house. They can confirm Mr Kavanaugh if they stay united. So far, there are no signs of Republican defections.<\/p>\n
Not all Democrats have said they will oppose Mr Kavanaugh, and several may even support his nomination.<\/p>\n
The Senate is likely to vote on confirmation by the end of the month. The court begins its next term in October.<\/p>\n
More than 20 witnesses are being called for the coming days of hearings.<\/p>\n
A resident of the wealthy Washington suburb of Chevy Chase, Mr Kavanaugh studied law at Yale.<\/p>\n
He worked under special counsel Kenneth Starr in his investigation into President Bill Clinton’s relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky in the 1990s.<\/p>\n
Under George W Bush, he served as deputy White House counsel and, from 2003-06, as Mr Bush’s staff secretary.<\/p>\n
A Catholic, he has been a US Court of Appeals judge in Washington for the past 11 years.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"