Protesters have converged on Washington DC to demonstrate against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. By noon, thousands of protesters were waiting outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington for the protest to begin. The location was chosen because Brett Kavanaugh currently works in that courthouse.
Protesters also swarmed the Hart Senate Building, filling up the building’s rooms and hanging Kava-No signs from the windows. Organizers estimated that around 1000 protesters had gathered in the building. You can see them here:
Protesters filled up the building and chanted “no justice, no peace:”
Police made some arrests, as you can see below. It wasn’t immediately clear which areas of the building were off limits to protesters.
Protests are expected to continue for days, as the Senate prepares for a confirmation vote on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination. That vote could come as early as Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday night, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, said he had received the FBI’s report into the sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh. Senators were reading that report on Thursday and were expected to vote on cloture on Friday. That means the confirmation vote would likely come on Saturday afternoon or on Sunday.
The protest took on a certain urgency, with Kavanaugh’s opponents describing it as their last chance to defeat the would-be justice. You can watch MoveOn’s livestream of the protest here:
You can see video from the scene here:
This video also shows the size of the crowds:
#CancelKavanaugh: Here’s a good view of the crowd making their way to the Supreme Court. “Hey hey, ho ho, Kavanaugh has got to go.”
People were packed tightly together, as thousands showed up to make their voices heard. You can see a photo of the crowd here:
Ana Maria Archila, one of the two sexual assault survivors who stopped Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator last week, was spotted at the protest. During their encounter in the elevator, Archila implored Flake to “believe survivors” and asked him how he could be planning to vote “yes” on Kavanaugh.
Just ran into .@AnaMariaArchil2 , the very brave woman who stopped @JeffFlake in the elevator last week and implored him to #BelieveSurvivors #CancelKavanaugh
Protesters came from all over the country, and many carried signs to show which state they were from. Here are some protesters from Maine:
I’m a proud Mainer and thrilled to see so many of us marching in DC to #CancelKavanaugh @SenatorCollins – are you listening?
and here are some from New York, carrying their city’s name in lights:
We believe Christine Blasey Ford. We believe Deborah Ramirez. We believe Julie Swetnick. We believe the women who didn’t get the opportunity to testify. Join us and our members at the national protest to #CancelKavanaugh TODAY in D.C. ➡ t.co/MQGcGXDHbk
There were counter-protesters at the event also:
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