Kavanaugh confirmation hearings set to start on Sept. 4

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Hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are now set to start on Sept. 4, according to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley.

Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement on Friday that he expects the hearings to go on for three to four days, with opening statements taking up much of Day 1.

Grassley said his team has reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages related to Kavanaugh’s time as a federal judge, calling Kavanaugh “one of the most respected jurists in the country and one of the most qualified nominees ever to be considered by the Senate for a seat on our highest court.”

“My team has already reviewed every page of the over 4,800 pages of judicial opinions Judge Kavanaugh wrote, over 6,400 pages of opinions he joined, more than 125,000 pages of records produced from his White House legal service, and over 17,000 pages in response to the most comprehensive questionnaire ever submitted to a nominee.”

KAVANAUGH DOCS FROM BUSH ADMIN HIGHLIGHT POST-9/11 LEGAL CHALLENGES

Kavanaugh was nominated on July 9 and since then, the committee has received 184,000 pages of records related to his work as a White House lawyer and for his work with Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

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Democrats have argued that Republicans are rushing the process for the lifetime appointment without proper vetting. They insist the Republicans are relying on the cherry-picked files being released primarily by President George W. Bush's lawyer, Bill Burck, who is compiling and vetting the documents, rather than the traditional process conducted by the National Archives and Records Administration.

The Archives has said its review of some one million pages of Kavanaugh records the committee requested will not be available until the end of October.

The top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, said scheduling the hearing before the documents are ready "is not only unprecedented but a new low in Republican efforts to stack the courts."

Grassley took an opposing position on Friday, adding that at their current pace, “we have plenty of time to review the rest of emails and other records that we will receive from President Bush and the National Archives.”

Republicans are eager to confirm President Trump's nominee ahead of the new court session Oct. 1, as Justice Anthony Kennedy retires.

Fox News’ Mike Emanuel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.