1:27
Booker pushed back on whether the documents should be considered confidential, arguing it was improper for Burck, a private lawyer and former colleague of Kavanaugh, to be vetting the documents and designating some as private.
He said releasing them would be worth it -- even if it meant getting expelled from the Senate for violating the rules.
\"I come from a long line, as all of us do, of Americans that understand what that kind of civil disobedience is and I understand the consequences,\" Booker said. \"So I am, right now, before your process is finished, I am going to release the email about racial profiling and I understand that the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate.\"
\"If Senator Cornyn believes I violate Senate rules, I openly invite and accept the consequences of my team releasing that email right now,\" he added, later saying \"bring the charges.\"
Sen. Cory Booker at Kavanaugh hearing says he is releasing email \"about racial profiling\" to \"expose\" that documents \"being withheld from the public have nothing to do with national security.\"
— ABC News (@ABC) September 6, 2018
\"I understand that the penalty comes with potential ousting from the Senate.\" pic.twitter.com/dIL8TsNsEP
Booker's fellow Democrats on the committee quickly expressed support.
\"I completely agree with you. I concur with what you are doing... I hope my other colleagues will join me,\" Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said. \"If there is going to be some retribution against the senator from New Jersey, count me in.\"
Cornyn warned Booker that he and other Democrats risked being expelled from the Senate, but later Thursday, outside the hearing room, Booker told reporters he doesn't expect the Texas Republican to pursue charges.
\"I think he was just like most bullies are -- a lot of talk and no action,\" Booker said.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein then read aloud another of the unreleased documents -- a Kavanaugh email discussing the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.
In that email, first disclosed by The New York Times earlier in the day, Kavanaugh proposed an edit to an op-ed about Roe v. Wade where he commented that he was \"not sure that all legal scholars refer to Roe as the settled law of the land at the Supreme Court level since Court can always overrule its precedent.\"
Since being nominated, Kavanaugh has referred to Roe as \"settled law\" and has said that other abortion cases had followed the Roe precedent, but he has declined to comment on how he might vote in any future cases.
When asked about the email Thursday, Kavanaugh said he recommended the edit to the op-ed because he didn't think the draft accurately reflect the view of all legal scholars. He repeated his previous comments that cases since Roe v. Wade have upheld the decision and established \"precedent upon precedent.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/kavanaugh-confirm-rt-hb-180906_hpEmbed_3x2_384.jpg\")
Kavanaugh denies \"inappropriate conversations\" about Mueller investigation
On a topic of particular interest to Democrats concerned about how Kavanaugh might handle any matters related to President Trump, Kavanaugh said Thursday that he has not discussed or given any hints about his views of special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
\"I haven't had any inappropriate conversations about that investigation with anyone,\" Kavanaugh said. \"I've never given anyone any hints, forecasts, previews, winks, nothing about my view as a judge or how I would rule as a judge or anything related to that.\"
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, provided Kavanaugh the opportunity to follow-up on an exchange with Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Wednesday night. Harris had asked the judge if he discussed the Mueller investigation with anyone at the law firm founded by the president's personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz.
Though he conceded that he may have talked to fellow judges about the Mueller probe because it was in the news, he said he wasn't sure he knew anyone at the firm, asking Harris to tell him who she had in mind.
Harris shot back, saying, \"I think you're thinking of someone and you don't want to tell us.\"
Complete exchange between @senkamalaharris and Judge Kavanaugh on Mueller Investigation. pic.twitter.com/FXhW3XmV19
— CSPAN (@cspan) September 6, 2018
Kavanaugh was more definitive Thursday, saying he doesn't recall conversations of any kind with anyone at the law firm, Kasowitz Benson Torres, but that he doesn't know everyone who might work there.
ABC News' Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/democrats-threaten-release-confidential-kavanaugh-documents/story?id=57643589","legacySlug":"/news/story/democrats-threaten-release-confidential-kavanaugh-documents-57643589","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"02:43","publishDate":"09-07-2018","updatedTime":"02:43","updatedDate":"09-07-2018","socialImage":{"alt":"Brett Kavanaugh listens to Senators on day three of his confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on Sept. 6, 2018.","credit":"Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/kavanaugh3-confirm-ht-hb-180906_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"9/7/2018 02:43:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":57643589,"headline":"Booker releases 'confidential' Kavanaugh emails","mediaAssetTitle":"Kavanaugh day 3","description":"The third day of the confirmation hearings began with another partisan fight. ","duration":"1:27","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/09/180906_nwo_kavanaugh_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["57617263","57590456","57646238"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"September 6, 2018","headline":"5 key takeaways from Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/protesters-interrupt-brett-kavanaugh-confirmation-hearing-day-57617263","id":57617263,"image":{"alt":"5 key takeaways from Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/Kavanaugh5-sh-hb-180905_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Michael Reynolds/EPA/REX via Shuttstock","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"September 4, 2018","headline":"Kavanaugh says a 'good judge' must be an 'umpire' and 'neutral' arbiter","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/kavanaugh-confirmation-hearings-begin-protest-democrats-57590456","id":57590456,"image":{"alt":"Kavanaugh says a 'good judge' must be an 'umpire' and 'neutral' arbiter","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/kavanaugh-gty-er-180904_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"September 6, 2018","headline":"Democrat releases 'confidential' emails as Kavanaugh hearing heats up","section":"news","slug":"/video/57646238","id":57646238,"image":{"alt":"Democrat releases 'confidential' emails as Kavanaugh hearing heats up","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/180906_nwo_kavanaugh_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Booker releases 'confidential' Kavanaugh emails","description":"The third day of the confirmation hearings began with another partisan fight. ","duration":"1:27","uploadDate":"09-07-2018","publication":"09-07-2018","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/09/180906_nwo_kavanaugh_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/09/180906_nwo_kavanaugh_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/democrats-threaten-release-confidential-kavanaugh-documents-57643589"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Booker releases 'confidential' Kavanaugh emails","pubTime":"22:43","pubDate":"09-06-2018","modTime":"22:43","modDate":"09-06-2018","taxonomyTags":"none","id":57643589,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Booker releases 'confidential' Kavanaugh emails","mediaAssetTitle":"Kavanaugh day 3","videoId":57643589,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/democrats-threaten-release-confidential-kavanaugh-documents-57643589"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/57643589","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/57643589","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};