U.S. Capitol Police arrested 22 people in the the first hour of Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a spokesperson confirmed.
“At 10:19 a.m., 22 individuals had been arrested,” Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki confirmed to the Washington Examiner. The hearing started at 9:30 a.m. ET.
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Those arrested for disrupting the committee’s hearing by screaming out during remarks made by Republicans and Democrats were taken into custody on the charge of disorderly conduct.
Nearly two hours into the hearing, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, stopped during his opening statement to complain about the near-constant interruptions.
“Mr. Chairman, I think we ought to have this loudmouth removed. We shouldn’t have to put up with this kind of stuff. I hope she’s not a law student,” Hatch said. “These people are so out of line, they shouldn’t be allowed in the doggone room.”
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said the police will remove protesters, but lawmakers should continue the hearing as they do so.
While members of the audience made the loudest objections, Senate Democrats also spoke out during Grassley’s initial opening remarks, calling for the hearing to be rescheduled because they had not had sufficient time to look over more than 40,000 pages of documents the White House released Monday evening.
