The Trump Administration and Senate leaders were ultimately able to confirm Justice Kavanaugh, but it wasn’t without great obstruction and bias from the Democrats. The below posts show how Democrats and liberals obstructed individuals' and officials' rights. In 2019, Republican officials will continue to fight the confirmation obstruction as many conservative judges await hearings on their nominations.
10. Conservative Women Overlooked - As Usual - On International Women's Day. In a world where law students disrupted Christina Hoff Sommers' Federalist Society speech at the Lewis and Clark Law School in the name of anti-fascism on Monday (the sheer ignorance of relatively recent history displayed by these supposedly educated law students--our future colleagues in the practice of law--is frightening), we are immensely grateful to have conservative and libertarian female attorneys who can provide a good example on International Women's Day. Women who can think independently, fight for good policies, and be strong leaders, supporting the rule of law, without attacking our country.
9. Not Just Kavanaugh: Democrats Obstructing Virtually All Trump Nominees. "According to a one-page White House memo obtained by the Washington Examiner, each of the last four presidents had confirmed hundreds more judicial and executive nominees than Trump by the second July of their presidency. For instance, the Senate had confirmed 75 and 87 percent of former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton’s picks by this time in their term. They have confirmed just 58 percent for Trump."
8. The Other Side of Brett Kavanaugh: Mentor to Women. "To a person, they described his extraordinary mentorship. 'When I accepted his offer to clerk,' one woman wrote, 'I had no idea I was signing up for a lifelong mentor who feels an enduring sense of responsibility for each of his clerks.' Another said: 'I can’t imagine making a career decision without his advice.' And another: 'He’s been an incredible mentor to me despite the fact that I’m a left-of-center woman. He always takes into account my goals rather than giving generic advice.'"
7. Draining the Swamp: Federal Judge Exposes Anti-Republican Bias at the FEC. As the agency that regulates and enforces campaign finance law, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) is a remarkably powerful entity. For this reason, instances of bias against one political party by the FEC should not be taken lightly. . . . Thankfully, there are checks and balances to the FEC. In order to find a violation, the agency must have bipartisan support with a minimum of four of six commissioner votes. While left-wing groups like Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have tried to get around this government check by suing the FEC for any decision they don’t like, the D.C. Circuit Court recently struck down this political tactic.
6. Facebook Prevents GOP California Secretary of State Candidate from Purchasing Ads. Instead of using a definition of political recognized by the FEC, the IRS, or the legal community, Facebook is broadly defining political to include genuine issue ads. Organizations from the Sierra Club to The Heritage Foundation will have to follow Facebook's rules for "political" ads. As a private company, the First Amendment does not prevent Facebook from placing restrictions on certain kinds of speech. But if Facebook is inconsistently and unequally verifying political campaigns and thereby preventing them from advertising, as it did with Mark Meuser's campaign, it is wading into murky legal waters and opening itself to further public backlash.
The remainder of the top ten list will be posted on Monday. Happy New Year!