Protesters in the Senate gallery Saturday repeatedly attempted to illegally interrupt proceedings as senators voted to make Brett Kavanaugh the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
The shrieking, anguished shouts of leftists began to fill the chamber in rounds – as it has so often since the very first hearing on Justice-designate Kavanaugh’s nomination – from the moment Vice President Mike Pence attempted to the call the vote. Pence, keeping an unaffected demeanor, repeatedly called on the Senate sergeant-at-arms to restore order.
The activists continued to shout throughout the vote and even after Pence announced Justice-designate Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
“As a reminder to our visitors in the gallery, expressions of approval or disapproval are not permitted in the Senate gallery,” Pence said calmly mid-vote.
The screaming was mostly incoherent in the television broadcast, but some shouts managed to come through the microphones. For example, when red state Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) stood to cast his vote, a woman could be heard to shout “shame!” repeatedly while another called Manchin a “coward.”
The activists efforts had no effect on the vote. Kavanaugh was confirmed as the 114th justice of the Supreme Court by a vote of 50-48.
It is generally illegal to disrupt Congressional proceedings. Protesters who do so are typically arrested for disorderly conduct or similar charges. U.S. Capitol Police continually removed the groups of shouting protesters at Kavanaugh’s final vote as they rose, but arrest and charge information was not immediately available.
The Women’s March, a left-wing organization founded to oppose President Donald Trump and led in many actions by Linda Sarsour, quickly claimed responsibility for the interruptions, making clear it was their intention to disrupt a congressional vote and prevent Kavanaugh’s confirmation:
Our members are disrupting the Senate from the gallery right now. #CancelKavanaugh
— Women's March (@womensmarch) October 6, 2018
We took the Capitol.
We sat the streets outside SCOTUS.
We disrupted the Senate proceedings.We want to be able to tell the next generation we did everything we could. #CancelKanavaugh
— Women's March (@womensmarch) October 6, 2018
Some journalists and left-wing commentators quickly expressed their sympathy with the disruptors:
The entire last two weeks have felt like one long primal scream https://t.co/JmZM0YpQEV
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) October 6, 2018
They literally forced white men in power to plow forward with a nomination of a serial sexual abuser over their screams of no. These women are heroes. https://t.co/e8PWAlBw2Y
— Lauren Rankin (@laurenarankin) October 6, 2018
In his statement before the vote, in which he opposed Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) reiterated his support for the protesters, calling their disruption “free speech.”
Kavanaugh’s nomination, likely the most contentious in American history, was beset by protesters inside hearing rooms from the very start, including weeks before Christine Blasey Ford’s uncorroborated, 36-year-old accusation of sexual assault threw Kavanaugh’s nomination fight into unprecedented chaos. Dozens of leftist activists were arrested even before Kavanaugh gave his very first opening statement before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Then too, Durbin repeatedly expressed support for these illegal protesters, calling it “the noise of democracy.”
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