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.

This is the first midterm election cycle since 2002 where any incumbents of the non-presidential party lost re-election.  The Democrats lost four such races.  In part this was because of their terrible treatment of Brett Kavanaugh.  Marc Theissen wrote last week in "Kavanaugh treatment gave Senate to GOP":

It cost Democrats their chance to regain control of the Senate. And it gave Republicans an expanded Senate majority that will allow them to confirm an even more conservative justice next time around.

. . .

None of that might have been possible had it not been for the Democrats’ horrific treatment of Kavanaugh. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it, the failed effort to stop Kavanaugh was “like an adrenaline shot” for the GOP base. Republican voters were outraged to see a good man accused, without a shred of corroboration, of sexually assaulting a teenage girl, exposing himself to a college classmate and participating in gang rapes in high school. They were disgusted by Senate Democrats’ insistence the burden was on Kavanaugh to prove he didn’t do it and by Democrats’ blatant disregard for the presumption of innocence. They were energized by Kavanaugh’s willingness to fight back and declare his treatment by Democrats a “national disgrace.” And they punished the perpetrators of that disgrace at the polls on Nov. 6. . . .

The lesson for Democrats should be clear: Character assassination does not pay. Quite the opposite, it backfired – big-time.

The Senate Judiciary Committee released a report into the attempted smear of then-Judge Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings.  The first paragraph is below. 

In the weeks leading up to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation vote on October 6, 2018, investigators from the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (“Committee”) diligently pursued all relevant allegations made against the nominee. This memorandum summarizes the Committee’s work and provides a status update on the Committee’s ongoing efforts to review and address additional matters that arose during the course of the investigation, including potential violations of Senate rules, potential witness tampering, and potential false statements made to the Committee in violation of federal law.

Almost four weeks after Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in, the mainstream media and Democrats have gone strangely silent on the accusations with which they were so eager to smear then-Judge Kavanaugh while his confirmation was pending:

The fallout from the Kavanaugh smear continues with some on the left doubling down on the smears regarding Justice Kavanaugh drugging and organizing rape trains of teenagers and with others backing off.  This is all a result of Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s 29 page letter referring Trump-hater lawyer Michael Avenatti and his “witness” Julie Swetnick to the FBI for criminal investigation for providing false statements, obstructing investigations, and conspiracy during Kavanaugh’s confirmation. 

Yesterday, NBC did a mea culpa claiming that they had been deceived by Avenatti:

Was this an intentional attempt to mislead our reporters? Evidence points that way... https://t.co/MOxE8WiGK4

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) October 26, 2018

RNLA Chair John Ryder wrote yesterday about how the Democrats' smear of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and their obvious efforts to play politics with his nomination have motivated conservative voters:

The dust has more or less settled from the Kavanaugh confirmation battle, but we will feel its effects for some time to come. It will take an entire term of the Supreme Court to begin to assess the impact of Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the court itself, but the political consequences are more immediate and tangible. . . .

On Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate 50 to 48 with Vice President Mike Pence presiding.  Justice Kavanaugh was sworn-in Saturday evening.  He carried through on his promise to have an all-women first class of clerks, including one African-American woman.  This the first time in Supreme Court history that a justice has had an all-women class of clerks.

The RNLA congratulated Justice Kavanaugh on Saturday, with statements from a few RNLA leaders:

Today, Senator Susan Collins gave an excellent speech on the Senate floor, carefully analyzing Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record and criticizing the efforts to smear his character. When she finished speaking, Senator Lamar Alexander immediately took the floor to praise her speech.

The entire speech is well worth watching, but here are some key excerpts:

The long drawn out saga of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court is finally winding down with the voting process expected to start tomorrow.  As a closing statement, tonight he wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal tonight describing why he was so emotional during the hearing last week:

After all those meetings and after my initial hearing concluded, I was subjected to wrongful and sometimes vicious allegations. My time in high school and college, more than 30 years ago, has been ridiculously distorted. My wife and daughters have faced vile and violent threats.

Against that backdrop, I testified before the Judiciary Committee last Thursday to defend my family, my good name and my lifetime of public service. My hearing testimony was forceful and passionate. That is because I forcefully and passionately denied the allegation against me. At times, my testimony—both in my opening statement and in response to questions—reflected my overwhelming frustration at being wrongly accused, without corroboration, of horrible conduct completely contrary to my record and character. My statement and answers also reflected my deep distress at the unfairness of how this allegation has been handled. . . . I hope everyone can understand that I was there as a son, husband and dad. I testified with five people foremost in my mind: my mom, my dad, my wife, and most of all my daughters.

Just when you thought it could not get anymore ridiculous or the smears any worse, Senator Dick Durbin takes off on a new tact.  Knowing FBI reports are confidential, he tweeted:

This tweet is not accurate. Committee Republicans must correct it. See our letter here: https://t.co/trJ9ymDjee https://t.co/cCVpAwCzEI

— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) October 3, 2018

Now think about this. Through multiple confirmation hearings (including for the DC Circuit), Durbin never brought this up.  Neither did any other Senator.  Yet now there is an issue in those past 6 FBI reports?  This is a classic, like the “there is a problem with Mitt Romney’s taxes” tactic used by Harry Reid. Reid famously said that when there was nothing there.  Yet the media reported Reid's charge breathlessly. 

Fortunately the Senate Judiciary Committee under Senator Chuck Grassley fought back:  

Nothing in the tweet is inaccurate or misleading. The committee stands by its statement, which is completely truthful. More baseless innuendo and more false smears from Senate Democrats. https://t.co/x7VUEKnFRV

— Senate Judiciary (@senjudiciary) October 3, 2018