At least 22 protesters were arrested outside the United States Capitol in DC on Monday morning ahead of the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination.
Some of the demonstrators that gathered outside the US Supreme Court were there to show support for Barrett, while others were expressing their objection by chanting and holding up signs despite the rainy weather.
Protesters tried to block the entrance to the Dirksen Senate Office Building shortly before the beginning of the confirmation hearings for Judge Barrett to become an Associate Justice, according to US Capitol Police. Those arrested were charged with crowding and obstructing.
Judge Barrett was nominated late September by President Donald Trump to fill the seat left empty by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away at the age of 87 from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18. Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Barrett is the youngest nominee for the top court since Clarence Thomas in 1991. The 48-year-old federal appellate judge is a mother of seven and known as a devout Catholic. She has been popular among conservative groups.
Prior to her short tenure as a federal judge, the Notre Dame law professor served three years on the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.