WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Sept. 4, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced Friday.
Grassley expects the hearings to last between three to four days, his office said, with opening statements delivered on Sept. 4 and the questioning of Kavanaugh to begin on Sept. 5.
The Judiciary panel has so far received more than 184,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s work as a White House lawyer and his work for Independent Counsel Ken Starr.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the hearings will set the Senate up for a floor vote on President Donald Trump's pick before the next term for the high court begins in October.
“I look forward to what will be a thorough and open vetting process by the Committee between now and September, followed by a vote to confirm him before Oct. 1,” he said in a statement.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Friday that he expected the chamber would vote to confirm Kavanaugh. "He'll get confirmed," he told Alan Watts of Kentucky radio station WKDZ. "It won’t be a landslide, but he’ll get confirmed."