Nice try. Complaining about an eleventh-hour delivery of 42,000 documents, several Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee tried moving for an adjournment this morning of the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. That led to cheers from activists in the audience, but Chuck Grassley insisted that it was the American people’s turn to see the nominee to the Supreme Court:

JUST IN: Democrats call to adjourn the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh over withheld documents https://t.co/EbA9MoE5tU pic.twitter.com/5Owv68rsdV

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 4, 2018

Sen. Kamala Harris said, “We cannot possibly move forward, Mr. Chairman with this hearing. We have not been given an opportunity to have a meaningful hearing on this nominee.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked to adjourn the hearing if motion is not heard.

Sen. Cory Booker — to cheers — asks for a debate on the issues and asks why rush through this. He appealed to Grassley’s decency and integrity which Grassley said Booker was taking advantage of.

Grassley said he wanted to move forward, and protestors began shouting.

The objections of the minority might hold more consequence if the same senators hadn’t pledged to vote against the nominee even before he was appointed. All of them have gone on the record as a nay to Kavanaugh, regardless of his qualifications and temperament. All of them have had open access to twelve years of Kavanaugh’s work as an appellate jurist, which are the records most pertinent to this appointment, and Senate Democrats had covered his previous work in his 2006 confirmation hearing to the DC circuit. Complaining about the late release of barely relevant documents from an entirely different phase of Kavanaugh’s career is nothing more than a stunt.

Grassley plowed through it nonetheless, refusing to adjourn or postpone the hearing. Expect Senate Democrats to add this to their grievance pile, but otherwise it’s a nonsensical stunt, and a hypocritical one at that.

Update: Looks like this was a Chuck Schumer Special:

The fight here is being waged by Dems in the rank-and-file, like Blumenthal, Harris, Booker, Klobuchar. Feinstein, ranking Dem, mostly sitting back other than delivering her opening statement. Schumer convened a call with Dem members over weekend to coordinate aggressive tactics

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 4, 2018

If these are the new rules, Democrats aren’t going to like them when the tables are turned. Didn’t Schumer learn a lesson from the nuclear option he and Harry Reid triggered? I guess not.

Update: Guy Benson checked his e-mail …

(1) Booker at the Kavanaugh hearing: We just need more time to carefully consider this nomination. What’s the Rush?

(2) Inbox, moments ago: pic.twitter.com/GUj7NIyf9B

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) September 4, 2018

Update: NBC reports that this is a Schumer Special, too:

Democrats plotted coordinated protest strategy over the holiday weekend and all agreed to disrupt and protest the hearing, sources tell me and @frankthorp

Dem leader @chuckschumer led a phone call and committee members are executing now

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) September 4, 2018

Maybe Allahpundit’s right. The best strategy for this would be to call the vote on Kavanaugh’s confirmation now, and end this charade. That would deprive Senate Democrats with a platform for further histrionics. We already know what the outcome will be.

If Dems won’t let the hearing proceed uninterrupted, cancel it and hold the vote now https://t.co/NXSZjrqiyA

— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) September 4, 2018

Update: If you’re keeping score …

INTERRUPTIONS SO FAR:
Blumenthal, Richard 13
Booker, Cory 10
Harris, Kamala 8
Hirono, Mazie 6
Klobuchar, Amy 3
Whitehouse, Sheldon 2
Leahy, Patrick 1
Coons, Christopher 1
TOTAL 44

— Alyssa Canobbio Hackbarth (@AlyssaEinDC) September 4, 2018

If even one of these Democrats had claimed to be actually considering the nomination at this stage, maybe their objections would matter. As it is, though, it’s nothing but the further deterioration of the norms. Neither side will like what replaces those norms in the long run. Shame on Schumer and on every single one of these senators participating in the obstruction.