Over the span of three days, U.S. Capitol Police arrested more than 200 people protesting the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who faces the last day of his confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday.

Throughout the week, demonstrators interrupted the hearing with emotional outbursts of “Vote no on Justice Kavanaugh!” and “Save Roe, vote no!” leading police to subsequently escort many of them out of the room in the Hart Senate Office Building. As The Hill reported, 69 protesters were arrested on Thursday, 73 on Wednesday, and 70 on Tuesday, when the hearing began — making up a total of 212 people.

Cops removed 37 people from the committee room on Thursday for disorderly conduct and 12 people were removed from outside the room for crowding. On Tuesday, police, at one point, blocked public entry into the committee room.

US Capitol Police report making 70 arrests for "unlawful demonstrations" at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing Tuesday. 61 protestors were removed from the hearing room. Nine other arrests outside. pic.twitter.com/kgvAEBnlAU — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) September 5, 2018

Outside of the hearing, dozens of people were also arrested for staging protests in various congressional offices. As ThinkProgress previously reported, 10 individuals were arrested on Wednesday for demonstrating at Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) office. Others held sit-ins at the offices of Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Donnelly (D-IN), the latter of whom hasn’t committed to voting against Kavanaugh. Several protesters were arrested after hours of demonstrations.

On Thursday, nearly 20 people were arrested outside Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) office. There, numerous progressive groups organized a protest against Grassley, who is the Judiciary Committee’s chairman.


When the hearing started on Tuesday, protesters were not the only ones who made their objections known, with Democrats interrupting Grassley’s opening remarks and calling for the hearing to be postponed, criticizing Republicans for failing to release a trove of documents pertaining to Kavanaugh’s time as president of the White House Counsel’s Office and later as staff secretary during the George W. Bush administration. On Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) risked Senate expulsion when he released confidential documents relating to Kavanaugh and racial profiling. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) did the same shortly thereafter.

Kavanaugh needs 51 Senate votes to be confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice; Democrats will likely fall short of that number, as there are only 49 Democrats in the Senate. Progressive activists have targeted potential swing voters, like Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Susan Collins (ME), vowing to fund the campaign of the latter’s midterm challenger should she vote in favor of Kavanaugh’s confirmation.