Senator Cory Booker - a possible 2020 presidential hopeful - says he's "one of the guys" who listens to his Republican colleagues.

"To be a country that sees that we need each other...there's not a Democratic way or a Republican way, there's an American way."

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But, he says, the proceedings with Kavanaugh have been "a sham", controlled by partisan processes.

"This is not about partisanship. A lot of folks are trying to make this about whether she was flying to California or not, whether the letter was authorised for release or not...that seems to be stripping away the heroism of Dr Ford to come before this committee willingly, even under circumstances that she said herself were not her wishes."

Grassley asks his Republican colleagues to keep their remarks short so everyone can speak.

Senator Mike Crapo argues why an FBI investigation would be pointless, echoing his Republican colleagues.

"The idea that the process followed was not the same as the committee has followed in the past is inaccurate, and I think that's very critical," he says.

He says yesterday both Ford and Kavanaugh made "very strong" cases, and he believes there was a sexual assault in Ford's past - "no doubt in my mind".

But Kavanaugh's testimony was also "honest".

And he doesn't feel that the evidence shows Kavanaugh was there that night.

He's a yes.

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Democrats have a chance to block Kavanaugh if at least two Republicans are willing to side with them.

When it's time for the full vote, all eyes will be on Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.

Collins (of Maine) and Murkowski (of Alaska) are moderate Republicans who have voted with Democrats in the past, making them possible swing votes when it comes to Kavanaugh.

We haven't heard from either yet about what their vote would be.

Senator Ted Cruz says Kavanaugh's record-keeping through his calendars is "odd", but would serve as "contemporaneous evidence" in any court of law.

"That contemporaneous evidence that he kept in 1982. I tell you in a court of law that kind of contemporaneous evidence would be powerful.

"If you're trying to ascertain from two conflicting witnesses which one is telling the truth you would look for that kind of contemporaneous evidence one way or the other."

Democrats aren't buying it.

Senator Coons begins by sharing a Joe Biden quote: "It is always appropriate to question another senator's policies. It is always appropriate to question another senator's priorities. It is never appropriate to question another senator's motives."

There has been "far too much of that" during this process, he says.

Coons says all the animosity will make it difficult for senators to take off their "partisan jerseys" and "get back to the real challenges" facing the country.

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The dean of Yale Law School, Dean Gerken, has called for an investigation into the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh before a confirmation vote.

Kavanaugh attended Yale for both undergraduate and law school.

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"If someone is a sexual predator...it is very rare that they are a one-time offender," Senator Ted Cruz says.

"They typically have a pattern of doing so, over and over again."

He brings up #MeToo, though not by name, saying we've seen "powerful men throughout society in politics, journalism, Hollywood whose careers have been rightly ended" after repeated bad behaviour.

Cruz points out how Kavanaugh's majority-female law clerks "revere" him. He's seen as a "boy scout" in Washington, the Texas senator says.

More on what some conservative commentators are talking about online related to the sexual abuse accusations against Kavanaugh - but not necessarily about them.

We're back to talking about Mark Judge, a childhood friend of Kavanaugh who Ford says was a witness to the alleged incident.

"Mr Judge refused to talk to the committee," Senator Cruz says.

"He submitted a statement, a statement under penalty of felony, but he refused to be interviewed by investigators - that's not complicated."

He says Democrats would love to see the "theatrics" of this man "pleading the fifth" [amendment] before the committee.

"It would make a great public show," Cruz says, but it would not change an "iota" of the truth.

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Senator Klobuchar ended her statement with an emphatic: "The constitution does not say we the ruling party. It says we the people."

She implores the American public to vote in November's mid-term elections.

"If the people want a check and balance on this administration... they're the only ones left to pitch in here, to have a say."

"Because right now, the way this process is run, we're not running it like we the people. It's being run like we the ruling party."

She's a 'no' for Kavanaugh.

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Indiana Democrat Joe Donnelly says he will oppose Kavanaugh's nomination.

The senator is in the midst of a tough battle with a Trump-backed candidate for November's mid-term elections.

In a statement, Donnelly says investigating sex assault "should not be a partisan issue".

"Unfortunately, despite having the time and opportunity to do so, Senator McConnell has refused to allow that FBI investigation."

He continues to say he has "deep reservations about Judge Kavanaugh's nomination".

He adds: "Only 113 people have ever served on the Supreme Court, and I believe that we must do our level best to protect its sanctity."

Senator Klobuchar refers to the three other (unsubstantiated) allegations against Kavanaugh: "This is not a he-said, she-said. This is a he-said, they-said."

She says a former Yale roommate noted that Kavanaugh could be a "belligerent" drunk.

(Kavanaugh told yesterday's hearing that there was redacted information to which the senators were privy that affected the roommate's credibility.)

Klobuchar also brings up one of the most uncomfortable exchanges from yesterday when she asked Kavanaugh whether he had ever been blackout drunk and he hurled the question back at her. Kavanaugh later apologised.

Klobuchar says she was just trying to ask the nominee about his drinking habits to figure out whether he'd ever had memory loss.

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Cruz says that Kavanaugh's young daughters will have to deal with the allegations made against their father for their entire lives.

"These little girls are going to have classmates of theirs repeat those charges to them," he says.

He referenced testimony from Kavanaugh in which he said that due to the charges, he may never teach law or coach basketball again.

"That is a very real consequence of the mudslinging and very irresponsible behaviour of the last two weeks," he says.

He adds that allowing Ford to testify was "the right thing to do".

"You kept Merrick Garland away from this committee for 10 months," Senator Klobuchar says.

"This isn't even a comparison."

Merrick Garland was President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee who was blocked by Republicans.

Watch what happened in the political fallout over his nomination here.

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"The question is what do you do when it happens?" Senator Klobuchar says, in impassioned remarks about how they respond to the allegations against the Supreme Court nominee.

"When you're in a position of power, what do you do when it happens?"

"You may not have liked that it came in last minute," she says, noting she also wished the allegation had come to their attention earlier, "But the question is: what do you do when it happens?

"You don't just put it under the rug.

"For so many years this is what happened to claims like this. They were just swept under the rug.

"Where is the bravery in this room?

"What are you hiding? What would it hurt? What is he [Kavanaugh] afraid of, if we just spend one week looking at the evidence?"

Protesters gathered earlier as the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss Kavanaugh's nomination.

US Capitol Police arrested some of them.

Two of the demonstrators cornered Republican Senator Jeff Flake in a lift, live on TV.

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Senator Klobuchar reminds the committee that having a hearing like this is "not normal," no matter how normal it may look, with friends and family sitting behind a nominee.

"There was a lot of chest-beating that went on yesterday on the other side. And it was pretty effective I guess, if the goal was to distract the American public from what they'd heard in the morning. From the moving, powerful testimony we've heard.

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She points out President George HW Bush authorised an investigation into the Anita Hill case and it took about three days.

She said the probe would last a "finite period of time" because there are only "a finite number of witnesses.

"This was a woman with no political background who made an attempt to call the front office of her congresswoman. That's what she did. She did this before the nominee was even picked. She did it when the nominee was on a shortlist because she was concerned."

"Don't argue she's part of some massive political strategy. Those aren't the facts."

Catholic magazine America, a Jesuit publication, has rescinded its endorsement of Kavanaugh, external.

"There are many good reasons to support the nomination of a qualified judge who is committed to a textualist interpretation of the Constitution to the Supreme Court," the editors wrote.

"We continue to support the nomination of judges according to such principles - but Judge Kavanaugh is not the only such nominee available."

The Jesuits said the nomination has now "become a referendum on how to address allegations of sexual assault" and "is no longer in the best interests of the country".

"The best of the bad resolutions available in this dilemma is for Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn," they wrote.