Day three of Brett Kavanaugh's #SCOTUS confirmation hearing is set to begin in about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, protesters have taken over Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley's office
Here's Kavanaugh coming in. Grassely has gaveled in to start the hearing, and begins by addressing the controversy over the public release of confidential documents, saying Dems "only have themselves to blame if they didn't get the documents they wanted" 
Grassley said that in order to accomodate last-minute requests to release committee confidential documents, they're working with the Justice Dept. to get those out. Grassley says that before the day is over, members will have the docs they want to ask Qs
Booker is expressing frustration with the process for getting committee confidential docs released – he says members didn't get some docs until right before the deadline. He also questions why some docs were confidential, saying they didn't include sensitive info
Booker just now says he's going to release an email about racial profiling which has been marked committee confidential, saying he understands he may face serious penalties for doing so, including ouster from the Senate
Things are heating up. Cornyn on Booker's announcement that he's going to release a committee confidential document: "Running for president is no excuse for violating the rules of the Senate"
Feinstein says that unlike Senate Intel, Senate Judiciary doesn't have standing rules about how docs are designated committee confidential. She echoes comments by other Dems that there are Kavanaugh docs don't include info that's personal or otherwise shouldn't be disclosed
Durbin questions the authority given to Bush lawyer Bill Burck (who has also repped McGahn, Priebus, and Bannon, Durbin notes) to decide what docs should be confidential. He says that if Booker is going to be punished for releasing committee confidential docs, "count me in"
Hirono: "Count me in, too"
After the initial sparring over documents, Grassley begins the second round of questions for Kavanaugh. He was just interrupted by a series of protesters. One was pulled out screaming, "Save democracy, save Roe, vote no on Kava-no"
Day three of Brett Kavanaugh's #SCOTUS confirmation hearing began with Sen. Cory Booker saying he was going to release a document designated as confidential, knowing he could get kicked out of the Senate for doing so buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Feinstein asked about the email re: Roe v. Wade revealed in today's NYT story (see: nytimes.com/2018/09/06/us/…) Kavanaugh says he was referring to the views of legal scholars on whether Roe was settled law of the land
Booker has followed through on his pledge to release Kavanaugh emails about racial profiling that were designated as committee confidential, here they are: scribd.com/document/38798… Earlier: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Hirono has followed Booker's lead and also released emails marked "committee confidential." Updated story: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Now, Grassley's office has formally released the committee confidential emails that Booker published earlier, along with other Kavanaugh docs Dems had asked to be made public. It wasn't immediately clear if this would affect Booker's possible liability buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Here are the newly released Kavanaugh emails and documents, from Grassley's office: judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/… and judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
Durbin asks Kavanaugh for reassurance about his commitment to democratic institutions. Kavanaugh starts to respond that his record, writings and statements "show..." and then a protester in the crowd interrupts, "they show he’s going to ruin our country"
As the protester is removed from the room, Kavanaugh finishes: "...show my commitment to the independence of the judiciary as the crown jewel of our constitutional republic"
A trio of protesters just got pulled out yelling "release the files" and "the people have a right to know"
Lee follows up on Harris's exchange with Kavanaugh last night about whether he'd discussed the Mueller probe with anyone at Kasowitz Benson Torres, the firm of Trump's personal lawyer Marc Kasowitz. Previously from @chrisgeidner: buzzfeednews.com/article/chrisg…
Lee notes the firm has 100s of lawyers, and asks if Kavanaugh can rule out knowing anyone who works there. Kavanaugh says he doesn't know who works there, aside from a few people he learned about from reports, says he learned last night Sen. Joe Lieberman works there
Lee asks if Kavanaugh had any inappropriate conversations with anyone about the Mueller investigation. Kavanaugh says no
Grassley is now breaking for lunch. He says that as of now, every committee confidential doc that Democrats requested has been released or cleared for release, including docs requested today by Leahy (those will be coming, Grassley said)
Things have gotten messy re: Booker's dramatic announcement that he was releasing confidential Kavanaugh emails in violation of Senate rules. Republicans are saying the docs were cleared for release by 4 a.m., and senators were notified before the hearing buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Update: A spox for Hirono says she wasn't told before the hearing that the confidential docs she read from last night and released this morning were cleared for release (unlike Booker, she didn't make a request for the docs to be cleared, however) buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Another update: Speaking to reporters, Booker didn't directly address if he learned the emails were cleared before today's hearing. But he notes he read from them last night (when they were still confidential) and has released other confidential docs today buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Dispatch: There have been a steady stream of protesters disrupting Kavanaugh's hearing since we resumed after lunch, but the Capitol Police officers have gotten so efficient at removing them that they're gone by the time I can get the camera on my phone turned on
Thread on the latest line of questions about what convos, if any, Kavanaugh had about the Mueller investigation -->
Blumenthal is asking Kavanaugh about Trump's attacks on the judiciary, citing as examples Trump's comments about Justice Ginsburg and Judge Curiel. Kavanaugh refuses to engage, saying he respects all of the justices, and he's "not going to get drawn into a political controversy"
Blumenthal says that last year, then-nominee Gorsuch did address this. During his confirmation hearing, when asked about Trump's attacks on the judiciary, Gorsuch wouldn't criticize Trump by name, but said it was "disheartening" and "demoralizing" when "anyone" criticizes judges
Booker asks Kavanaugh about his position on the consitutitonality of investigating/indicting a sitting president, saying Kavanaugh's writings show he's speculated about it in a way that "sends a clear signal about where you stand." Kavanaugh: "I promise you I have an open mind"
