The first day of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing began on Tuesday and included rowdy protesters who urged senators to vote against the Supreme Court nominee.
Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour was among 32 protesters — mostly women — arrested for disrupting the hearing by shouting and waving signs.
“I will be able to tell my daughters and future grandchildren that I STOOD UP. I was not and will not be silent when our bodies and rights are on the line,” Sarsour tweeted.
Abortion-rights activists have sounded the alarm over Kavanaugh, whom they fear would vote to overturn the 1973 landmark abortion case Roe vs. Wade should it be relitigated.
“We’re disrupting the Kavanaugh hearings every few minutes, with hundreds of women prepared to get arrested to prevent these hearings from moving forward,” the Women’s March group wrote on Twitter.
Serious props to the @womensmarch crew for the noise they're making in DC today. #StopKavanaugh pic.twitter.com/IPQPssq5f9
— Rachel Hills (@rachelhills) September 4, 2018
I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings.
Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can’t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.#StopKavanaghpic.twitter.com/f3SG7gmVam
— Piper Perabo (@PiperPerabo) September 4, 2018
“Senators, we demand you vote no,” one protester shouted.
“This should be an impeachment proceeding and not a confirmation hearing,” another yelled.
Other left-leaning activist groups, including NARAL and UltraViolet, also protested Kavanaugh’s nomination. “Wow! Brett Kavanaugh knows women and has even been nice to some of them! He *definitely* won’t rollback our fundamental freedoms. Except the whole part where he’s ruled against the rights of women over…and over…and over,” NARAL wrote on Twitter.
Actress Piper Perabo was arrested for protesting, along with UltraViolet’s executive director and co-founder Shaunna Thomas and NARAL’s Washington and Missouri executive directors, Tiffany Hankins and Alison Dreith. A group of women dressed in costumes from Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale television show also stood outside the hearing in protest.
Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee were less obstreperous in their objections, but they demanded that Chairman Chuck Grassley adjourn the hearing until they have time to peruse 42,000 pages of documents that were released on Monday night, regarding Kavanaugh’s time in the George W. Bush administration. Democratic objections delayed the hearing for more than an hour.
WATCH NOW: ‘Democrats Protest as Hearing for Kavanaugh Begins’