Hearing for US court nominee disrupted by protest chaos

A CONFIRMATION hearing for Donald Trump’s latest nominee to the US Supreme Court descended into chaos as Democrats tried to halt proceedings and protesters repeatedly interrupted.

Brett Kavanaugh was being grilled by the Senate judiciary committee at the start of four days of hearings.

The protesters included a group of women dressed as characters from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, who denounced Judge Kavanaugh as “anti-abortion, anti-healthcare, and anti-women”.

As protests grew increasingly heated the judge’s two young daughters, Margaret and Liza, were escorted out of the hearing.

If confirmed, Judge Kavanaugh (53) would shift the closely divided court of nine justices to the right, potentially for a generation. But in his opening remarks the judge told the committee he would be a “pro-law judge” who would not decide cases based on his personal views.

He said: “A good judge must be an umpire, a neutral and impartial arbiter who favours no litigant or policy. I would always strive to be a team player on the team of nine.”

Democrats said they wanted to review 100,000 documents about the judge’s record that had been withheld by the White House. They also wanted to delay proceedings to examine 42,000 other documents released on a confidential basis on the eve of the hearing.