Protesters dressed in "The Handmaid's Tale" costumes stand outside the hearing room where Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee during his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Protesters wait for the hearing to start. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The hearing, which is expected to last four days, was expected to kick off Tuesday with an aggressive fight from Democrats on Kavanaugh’s position on Roe v. Wade, the case from 1973 that first established abortion as a fundamental right under the Constitution.
Since Trump’s nomination of Kavanaugh, there has been heated discussion as to what Kavanaugh would do with the landmark case, particularly since he has been quiet about his stance on it and his position on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a bench dealing mostly with federal matters, hasn’t afforded voters with an opportunity to see how he handles adjacent cases.
Despite this, Kavanaugh has apparently told one lawmaker, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, that he believes Roe v. Wade is “settled law.”
“He said that he agreed with what [Chief Justice John] Roberts said at his nomination hearing, at which he said that it was settled law,” she told reporters last week.
As far as many Roe v. Wade supporters are concerned, the law is still very much in danger, hence the appearance of the famous red robes and white hats from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Women dressed in Handmaid’s Tale costumes outside day 1 of the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing —> pic.twitter.com/jwaLXmcU3S
Just last month, a group of protesters donned the outfits when greeting Vice President Mike Pence and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a summit in New York City.
A guard stands on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on Oct. 5, 2015.
Red velvet drapes hang at the back of the courtroom at the U.S. Supreme Court building June 20, 2015.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in her chambers, shows the many collars (jabots) she wears with her robes.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas jokes with his clerks as he describes their decision-making process in his chambers.
U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts eats a bowl of soup as he sits down to lunch with his team of clerks in his private study at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 15, 2016.
Justice Stephen Breyer looks for a favorite volume of Proust in his rare book collection in his chambers at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on June 8, 2016.
A clock hangs above the bench in the Supreme Court on April 4, 2016.
A notice is seen on a lectern where lawyers stand to argue before the Supreme Court justices.
Name plates mark the spaces reserved for justices' families in the courtroom.
Pencils, a reminder of how to address the court and a seating chart of the justices.
Television journalists prepare for a news conference on the plaza in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building on June 9, 2016.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan walks with her clerks in one of the four inner courtyards at the Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. June 20, 2016.
U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben departs the U.S. Justice Department in traditional morning coat on his way to argue his one-hundredth case before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. April 27, 2016.
Carved oak walls and arches are seen in the reading area of the library at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. April 4, 2016.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy delivers a lecture for visiting international attorneys in the West Conference Room at the Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. June 20, 2016.
Daniel Agbleze waters flowers in one of the four inner courtyards at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. June 6, 2016.
Elevator operator Johnnie Bacon, from Washington, smiles at a passenger as he tends one of the elevators in the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. April 4, 2016.
Reporters wait for the release of the text of the justices' opinions, timed to match the readings of the decisions from the bench, at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S. June 6, 2016.
A circular staircase is seen in the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S. January 28, 2016.
The courtroom of the U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, U.S. April 4, 2016.
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