Piper Perabo Was Arrested for Civil Disobedience at the Brett Kavanaugh Hearing

Today, Piper Perabo was arrested while defending equal rights at the Brett Kavanaugh hearing. The Coyote Ugly and Covert Affairs actress was removed from the courtroom in the Hart Senate building on Capitol Hill, where the former counsel to George W. Bush was testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a spot in the Supreme Court.

She later shared her experience on social media, tweeting, “I was just arrested for civil disobedience in the Kavanaugh hearings. Many citizens before me have fought for the equal rights of women. I can’t be silent when someone is nominated to the Supreme Court who would take our equal rights away.”

In a video shared with her tweet, Perabo is seen being led out of the Kavanaugh hearing room by police, amid other female protestors. “Be a hero” they chanted at senators, along with “Please vote no.” A total of 22 protestors were arrested at the hearing and cited for disorderly conduct, as The Hill reports, though it’s unknown if Perabo was officially charged with anything.

Later in the day, Perbabo reflected on her morning, tweeting that she had no regrets, “This morning I was arrested with women from @womensmarch @CPDAction @lsarsour @jeppsaddison @HeidiSpeaks @woodra @WaywardWinifred. Proud to stand with them, and stand up for equal rights. #StopKavanaugh #BrettBye.”

Perabo most recently protested Donald Trump’s administration last fall when she attended a rally for DACA after the president announced he would be ending it.

Despite the fact that Kavanaugh has “strong odds” of becoming a Supreme Court justice, according to The Atlantic, his hearing has been met with strong protest. Many like Perabo believe that, if selected, Kavanaugh would vote in favor of reducing women’s rights like abortion—and Trump’s past threat to overturn Roe v. Wade if he changed the Supreme Court makeup don’t help. “If we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that will happen,” Trump said in 2016, per NPR. “And that will happen automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the court.”

As Demand Justice, the group behind the Handmaid’s Tale protest at the Kavanaugh hearing, said in a statement, “Right now in America, far too many women of color cannot access safe, affordable healthcare and the ability to decide whether, when and how to raise thriving families is out of reach. Brett Kavanaugh will take this already harsh reality and make it worse.”