Washington — Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, one of the leading voices opposing the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, called for the adjournment of his confirmation hearing almost immediately after it began Tuesday.

Amid chaos created by the shouts of protesters, who were dragged out of the cavernous hearing room by Capitol Police, Blumenthal led demands by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a roll-call vote on whether to halt the proceedings until all of the documents pertaining to Kavanaugh’s employment at the White House could be reviewed.

“We have turned this hearing into a charade,” Blumenthal said.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee held firm, saying that Democrats would have a chance to have their say over four days of confirmation hearings that could stretch into the weekend, if need be, and that Blumenthal’s request for a vote was “out of order.”

“The motion is not out of order just because the chairman says it’s out of order,” Blumenthal retorted.

Grassley said the hearing is not in executive session — but in a session to consider a nominee — and he could not hold a vote on Blumenthal’s motion.

“If there is no vote this process will be tainted and stained forever,” Blumenthal said.

Democrats said that they had been provided with a new release of 45,000 pages of documents on Monday night, which no senator had time to read. They also said those documents were classified as “committee confidential,” preventing their public release and likely stopping Democrats from citing them during the hearing.

The Trump administration last week cited executive privilege in order to shield more than 100,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s time in George W. Bush’s White House counsel’s office.

One after another, committee Democrats insisted on a vote on Blumenthal’s motion to adjourn the hearings for days or even weeks, to be able to obtain and read all those documents.

“Even the documents you have requested, we have not received,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. told Grassley. “What is the rush?”

Kavanaugh, a federal appeals court judge who would replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy and would be a reliable conservative vote on the high court, sat stone-faced during the frequent disruption of protesters and the revolt by Democratic Judiciary Committee members.

He had brought his two young daughters, wife, parents and other family members to the hearing and is expected to say he will be “a neutral and impartial arbiter” if confirmed, according to excerpts of his opening statement.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the Democrats’ behavior would lead them to be “held in contempt of court,” if the confirmation hearing were a court proceeding, prompting a chorus of quiet boos.

Cornyn also said the Democratic disruption of Tuesday’s proceedings, in which the 19 members of the committee and Kavanaugh are to give their opening statements, had tuned into “mob rule.”

Other Republicans said there have been an unprecedented release of documents about Kavanaugh.

“We’ve received twice as many documents for Judge Kavanaugh as we have for any Supreme Court nominee in history,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

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