Judy Woodruff:

That's just a taste of what we heard today from the 21 senators who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Joining me now to consider this dramatic day one in the hearing room are three people who have followed the Supreme Court and appellate judges like Brett Kavanaugh for years.

"NewsHour"'s regular Marcia Coyle covers the high court for "The National Law Journal." Paul Clement was the U.S. solicitor general, who is the government's lead lawyer before the court. That was during the George W. Bush administration. And Neal Katyal, he served as the acting solicitor general under President Obama. He joins us from New York.

All three of you, we say welcome.

And as we have been saying, Marcia, because you joined us for our live coverage during the day, the day got off to a wild start. It did eventually settle down. But what did that wild start tell us about the atmosphere as Brett Kavanaugh begins this confirmation process?