With few tools to block a Supreme Court nominee, Democrats decided to test Senate rules and decorum at the hearings to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh.
WASHINGTON — Boorish. Rude. Disrespectful. Insulting. Grandstanding. Hyperventilating. Deranged. Ridiculous. Drivel.
Those were among the words angry Senate Republicans used this week to assail the conduct of Democrats at a Supreme Court hearing that was often tense and sometimes toxic.
But Senate Democrats don’t care what Republicans think. They knew going into the hearing that they would have to push the envelope of the chamber’s decorum to have any hope of derailing the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, while simultaneously showing voters — particularly theirs — that they would not be bulldozed by Republicans.
In the end, they almost certainly did not cut into Judge Kavanaugh’s solid support among Republicans. And that is all he will need to be seated by the start of the new term in October, after Republicans eliminated the 60-vote filibuster on Supreme Court nominees in 2017. But Democrats were able to raise doubts about Judge Kavanaugh’s candor at earlier confirmation hearings for a Court of Appeals seat, underscore the sweep of his conservative ideology and show allies they were willing to put up a fight.
“Given they were forced to conduct this hearing with one hand behind their backs, they did an exceptional job in making clear how much of a threat Kavanaugh is to health care, abortion and checks and balances,” said Nan Aron, the president of Alliance for Justice, a liberal advocacy group. “They fought vigorously on all fronts to get documents.”
Tens of thousands of documents from Judge Kavanaugh’s years in the Bush White House were withheld from scrutiny and others were designated “committee confidential” — a category that meant they were available to committee members but could not be made public without special permission. The battle over the documents gave Democrats an opening to contend that Senate Republicans and the White House were engaged in a cover-up of Judge Kavanaugh’s past positions — an argument that almost consumed the hearings.
Fighting about process is not usually a winning strategy, but Democrats tried to make the most of it. With the strong encouragement of Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, they even began unilaterally disclosing some of the documents on a range of topics like abortion rights and affirmative action.
“Every Democrat on the committee was a tour de force,” Mr. Schumer said. “We hope their strong questioning on the committee puts doubts in the heads of our Republican colleagues. We are certain it has put real doubts in the heads of the American people.”
The wrangling led the committee to authorize the release of some of the withheld documents, and their contents suggested the confidentiality label had been broadly applied. The dispute also prompted Republican leaders to threaten to open an ethics investigation. Democrats dared them to follow through.
“Bring it,” said Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey.
Though the procedural weapons available to them have been limited by the Republican action on the Supreme Court filibuster last year after Democrats gutted the filibuster on other nominees in 2013,Democrats have been under fire from the left for not doing enough to slow President Trump’s parade of conservative judicial nominees.
At least year’s hearings for Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Mr. Trump’s initial nominee for the Supreme Court, Democrats were seen as offering rather tepid opposition except for former Senator Al Franken, the Democrat of Minnesota who later resigned after accusations of sexual harassment. Since then, Democrats have been criticized for allowing some Federal District Court judges to be confirmed too easily without requiring Republicans to eat up time by forcing roll call votes.
But given the importance of this Supreme Court fight in confirming a successor to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the swing vote in many decisions — as well as the investigations swirling around the president — Democrats were ready to set aside the usual confirmation hearing niceties. They mapped a plan that designated Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, to interrupt the Judiciary Committee hearing as soon as it was opened Tuesday morning by Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Republican of Iowa who oversees the panel, and Democrats went from there.
“These hearings were the rockiest for a Supreme Court nominee since Clarence Thomas,” said Brian Fallon, the head of Demand Justice, a new advocacy group formed in part to encourage Democrats to be more aggressive on judges. “Democrats had sort of sleepwalked their way into this week, but then younger members like Booker and Harris came ready for battle and their intensity became contagious.”
In recognition of the new combativeness, the group delivered Everlast boxing gloves to Senators Harris and Booker as well as Senator Mazie Hirono, the Democrat of Hawaii who tore into Judge Kavanaugh for writings that she said disparaged Native Hawaiian people.
Not all the progressive groups were as pleased. A coalition led by the organization Credo wrote to Mr. Schumer, criticizing him for not securing unanimous Democratic opposition to Judge Kavanaugh. It is possible that at least a few Democrats from conservative states may support Judge Kavanaugh, but other previously undeclared Democrats on Friday began announcing they would oppose the nomination.
Republicans said they were offended by the Democratic tactics and saw it is a continuation of Democratic character assassination of Supreme Court candidates nominated by Republican presidents, beginning with Judge Robert H. Bork in 1987. They also believe that the tone of the hearing could cause a backlash among more centrist and independent voters and further impair the already damaged confirmation process.
On Friday, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, ridiculed Mr. Booker on Twitter for commenting that his decision to violate rules governing the documents was his “Spartacus” moment. Mr. Rubio said the hearings were “an embarrassing indictment of our current political culture. Deranged claims from the left that a highly credentialed long time circuit judge is a threat to our republic.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, hit Democrats repeatedly throughout the week for their performance.
