(CNN) A federal judge Wednesday ordered the release of a 1999 report that could show if Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was involved in leaks of grand jury secrets when he worked with special counsel Ken Starr investigating President Bill Clinton.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats and American Oversight, a government disclosure advocacy group, say the still-secret report by a court-appointed special master could shed light on Kavanaugh's activities during the Starr investigation.

The special master, John Kern, wrote the report in 1999 on how prosecutors on Starr's team allegedly leaked information to the press in the Whitewater investigation of Clinton.

Kavanaugh, currently a federal appellate judge on the DC Circuit, has told the Judiciary Committee that his past contact with news reporters -- both as a quoted and as an anonymous source -- was "appropriate or as directed."

Judge Royce Lamberth said the records must be released by Friday at 3 p.m. ET.

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