Democrat Chris Coons is now speaking, and thanking Flake for agreeing to advance the nomination with the stipulation that an FBI investigation be held.

"We are voting on the motion to report the nomination the floor," says Grassley.

But Feinstein rushes to stop him.

Grassley says let's vote first, then discuss whether Flake will get the FBI investigation that he wants.

"I think it would be proper to delay the floor vote for up to but not longer than one week," says Flake.

He announced that he will advance the nomination if he ensured of an FBI inquiry, which he says would be "limited in time and scope".

Chairman Grassley has reconvened the hearing.

He announces that Senator Flake will now speak.

Some of the senators have just returned to the committee room from closed-door consultations, including briefly the lesser-spotted Jeff Flake.

The vote was due to be held 19 minutes ago.

Demonstrations for and against Kavanaugh are being held today beyond the Washington DC beltway.

Here are some shots of rallies in Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is reportedly delaying its vote.

A text message from a senator in the chamber to CBS News says there is something afoot involving Arizona Republican Jeff Flake.

Kavanaugh will take a big stride towards a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court if he can just get past this Senate Judiciary Committee.

But does the judge have enough votes from senators?

We'll find out soon.

This vote is scheduled to happen in minutes...

Republican Jeff Flake, who announced that he would support Kavanaugh, has disappeared from the public spotlight since this morning when he was filmed in a confrontation with a protester.

Amid his absence, some are speculating that he may change his mind, only hours after publicly announcing his decision.

As he left the hearing room, Flake was seen tapping the shoulder of Democrat Chris Coons.

His statement, announcing support for Kavanaugh, is still up on his website for whatever that is worth...

A Canadian newspaper is facing criticism for an opinion piece that describes the Kavanaugh hearings as a "contemporary equivalent of the Salem witch trials".

The piece, by Calgary Herald columnist Naomi Lakritz, also suggests that whatever Kavanaugh's actions were in high school, they are irrelevant now given the time that has passed.

"The Kavanaugh case should strike fear into the hearts of all men because it means that no matter how sterling a reputation you have in your adult life and career, something dumb you may or may not have been involved with in high school can forever come back to haunt you," she wrote.

The column prompted two city councillors to say they would refuse interviews with the paper until its editorial board recognises the "the gravity of their decision to minimise the impact of high school sexual assault".

A car dealership whose advertisement was placed next to the piece has said the column in no way aligns with its values.

The Calgary Herald defended its writer, saying a columnist's role is to express his or her point of view.

Naomi Lakritz also defended her column to CBC, telling them she does not "understand why people are so riled up".

Reactions to the testimony by Prof Christine Blasey Ford have split. Some see her as a hero, others as a political pawn. What writer Liz Spikol saw was a fellow sexual assault survivor describing the worst day of her life.

I was raped at 17.

Most days now, I only think about it once or twice. But some days are harder.

Days like yesterday, when Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, testified in Washington, DC.

Maybe other people saw a woman answering questions. I saw struggle, pain, a tightrope walk.

I know that walk, too.

I live a full life now, with gainful employment and a very cute dog. But the trauma is still with me in so many ways. The rape changed my life entirely. It's the stone in your shoe you can never remove.

Read more of Spikol's reaction here.

Image source, Getty Images

"I hope this will be a teaching moment, not to denigrate anyone who's been a survivor of sexual assault, but to lift them up," Senator Blumenthal says.

"I want to say to her [Ford's] sons: You should be proud of your mom.

"She is a profile in courage. Her name will be in the history books, long after ours are gone.

"She will be remembered as someone who stepped forward, truly, to speak truth to power. We use that phrase a lot. She did it yesterday."

"I am proud to say that I believe Dr Blasey Ford and I hope that her two sons and her husband are as proud of her as we should be."

And with that, the last Democrat on the committee has voted 'no' on Kavanaugh.

Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal makes a last plea to avoid a vote.

"The session yesterday was a job interview," he says. "The person we saw come before us yesterday was filled with such rancour and animus, such anger that I cannot accept that he would be an impartial and objective justice on the US Supreme Court.

"To describe members of this committee as a left-wing conspiracy, to literally to threaten US senators, I simply cannot accept."

Blumenthal says he believes Kavanaugh lacks the temperament and fitness to be on the Supreme Court.

"His views are still disqualifying for me, but his character and fitness ought to be a reason for everyone to vote no."

Senator Kennedy ends by scolding whoever leaked Christine Blasey Ford's confidential letter to Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein.

And he closes with a Bible verse, Matthew 16:26: "What does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?"

Feinstein received Ford's letter in July, but says she kept it under wraps to protect the privacy requested by Ford.

The letter was first reported by the website The Intercept on 12 September. Feinstein's office and The Intercept maintained neither the senator nor her staff leaked the letter.

As reporters began hounding her, Ford decided to go public with her allegation in a Washington Post article published on 16 September.

Image source, Getty Images

"This has been, as someone put it in an article this morning, a grotesque carnival," Republican Senator John Kennedy says.

"In my opinion, an intergalactic freak show."

"We have reached rock bottom and are starting to dig," he says. "And all of this could've been avoided, every bit of it."

"The cynical games, the character assassination has damaged Dr Ford and Judge Kavanaugh and their families irreparably."

He says how we treat women in America does matter.

"This is no country for creepy old men, or young men, or middle-aged men".

But it's no country he wants to live in if there's no due process.

"To confirm Judge Kavanaugh you'd have to say not only that you don't believe her - Dr Ford - but that you're so willing to say this didn't happen that you're willing to force a vote now without any further investigation," Senator Cory Booker says.

"At best this means you think she's confused that she doesn't remember what happened to her."

But, he reminds the committee, Ford told them yesterday how she distinctly remembers Kavanaugh covering her mouth, being afraid that he would accidentally kill her.

"This pernicious patriarchy in this country has to stop," Senator Booker says.

"It's real in this country and people are suffering.

"And they're watching this body right now... How we will act? Will we ignore credible testimony? Will we listen? Will we believe?"

Image source, Reuters

Not unexpectedly, Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat in a tough re-election battle against a Trump-backed candidate, has said he is a 'no' on Kavanaugh.

Meanwhile, Republicans are savaging Indiana Democratic senator, Joe Donnelly, after he confirmed he was also a 'no'.

They said his fellow Indianans, or Hoosiers, as they are known, won’t be impressed.

"Hoosiers will forever remember Sleepin’ Joe Donnelly as the politician whose last decision as a senator was to abandon his constituents and side with his liberal base and their shameful antics," said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Bob Salera.

That’s another mid-term race that just got spicier.

Former Kavanaugh schoolmate Mark Judge - named by Christine Blasey Ford as a witness to her alleged assault - has written that he cannot testify to the Senate. He said he avoids public speaking because he suffers from anxiety and depression.

But some have noted the author is apparently available for speaking engagements, according to his publisher's website.

"She didn't need to pick him out of a line of teenagers - she knew him," Senator Booker says.

He adds that her testimony is bolstered by "significant corroboration".

The New Jersey senator also says an FBI investigation is necessary because it holds a different weight.

Lying to the FBI is a felony.

And there's a "powerful difference between a committee investigation and an FBI agent...pulling on the loose threads".