Four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out during a hearing scheduled Friday morning to discuss the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

The four senators — Kamala Harris (Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), and Mazie Hirono — left after committee chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) began speaking ahead of a hearing to decide whether Kavanaugh, accused of sexual assault while in high school by Christine Blasey Ford, should receive a nomination.

"This hearing is a sham and Dr. Ford and the American people deserve better," Harris wrote on Twitter following her departure.

Since then, only Blumenthal has returned to the hearing.

The Democratic senators have sought more time to investigate the matter, including calling additional witnesses such as Mark Judge, a potential witness to the assault.

"We should hear what these witnesses have to say for themselves publicly before the Senate Judiciary Committee about what they remember of the Summer of 1982. In their own words," Blumenthal wrote on Twitter Thursday. "Right now we are missing this critical information."

The committee has scheduled a vote at 1:30 p.m. ET on whether to nominate Kavanaugh a day after both he and Ford offered emotional testimony about accusations of sexual assault.

If the nomination is approved, it could go before the full Senate for a vote by Tuesday.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.