WASHINGTON, DC – All eyes will be on Capitol Hill this week, as the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thus begins the next battle in the campaign to confirm the nation’s next Supreme Court justice, one that began in earnest when Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement on June 27. The Trump White House and Senate Republicans hope for a repeat of the home-run success of last year’s confirmation of Justice Neil Gorsuch.

The president nominated Kavanaugh, 53, on July 10, from his list of potential Supreme Court picks. In addition to over 10,000 pages of judicial opinions that Kavanaugh has either authored or joined in his 12 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, senators received from the nominee over 100 pages of written answers to questions, accompanied by 17,000 pages of attachments, and have also received over 400,000 pages thus far of additional document pages associated with Kavanaugh from his years of public service.

All that has been a prelude to the public hearings that will be held this week.

On Tuesday, September 4, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) will call the committee to order around 9:30 a.m. He will then give his opening remarks, followed by Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), then all the senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in order of seniority – 21 in all.

Around 2:30 p.m., the nominee will be introduced by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – both of whom worked with Kavanaugh in the Bush 43 White House – and by Supreme Court lawyer Lisa Blatt, a partner at Arnold & Porter who is also a self-described feminist and Democrat, and who has endorsed President Trump’s choice. Judge Kavanaugh will then make his opening remarks to the committee.

Wednesday, September 5, will be the first round of questions from the committee members for the nominee to answer. Each senator has 30 minutes, managed by Grassley. It follows the same sequence as the opening statements, as senators take turns in order of seniority, starting once again with Grassley, followed by Feinstein.

It is expected to be a long day, one that will go until at least 9:30 p.m., but possibly later, when the final Republican senator finishes his questioning of the judge.

Thursday, September 6, will be the second round of questions and answers. Each senator will have 20 minutes to follow up on their initial questions or to raise new matters based on the first couple days of hearings.

It is also possible that Thursday could include a brief third round of questions, including questions behind closed doors on matters that cannot be discussed on camera.

The hearings’ final day on Friday, September 7, involves testimony from outside experts, beginning with two lawyers from the American Bar Association, which gave Kavanaugh a unanimous “well qualified” rating – its highest evaluation – on Friday. The next panel will include longtime friends to give insiders’ accounts, including Kavanaugh’s former law clerks and students, former Solicitors General Ted Olson and Paul Clement, and Yale Professor Akhil Amar (a liberal). Democrats will also have panels of their own witnesses.

The Kavanaugh hearings should conclude either late afternoon or early evening on Friday. But the battle will continue until Kavanaugh’s nomination comes to the floor for a vote later this fall.

He needs only a majority vote to be confirmed, thanks to the end of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.

Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.