While Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee complained about the near constant interruptions at the start of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, a Senate Democrat defended the members of the public who showed up Tuesday to protest Kavanuagh’s confirmation.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) called the disturbances “the noise of democracy.”

“It is not mob rule,” he said pointedly, rebuking the term Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) had lobbed at Democrats for their own attempts to delay the hearings due to the last-minute document dump of Kavanaugh-related records Monday night.

“We need to be honest why this is happening for the first time in the history of this country. People are genuinely concerned about the people of this country,” Durbin said.

Durbin closed his opening remarks by asking Kavanaugh to himself ask for the hearings to be delayed so that the senators can review his full record.