WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, admonished prominent activist Cindy Sheehan and members of the anti-war group "Code Pink" Thursday for holding up signs and obstructing people's view during Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales' hearing on the U.S. attorney firings.

"Nobody is more protective of First Amendment rights than I, but if signs are being held up and are blocking the views of people, I don't care whether signs are for the attorney general or opposed to the attorney general, if signs are being held up blocking the views of others who have just as much a right to be here as everyone else, the people doing that will be removed," Leahy said.

Approximately a dozen protesters are wearing pink and orange clothing and holding up small signs referencing "habeus corpus" and "torture" and calling on Gonzales to "resign."