Today, at the end of a long executive business meeting, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to report favorably the nominations of William Barr to be Attorney General and 44 judicial nominees, including circuit court nominees Bridget S. Bade (Ninth Circuit), Paul B. Matey (Third Circuit), Eric D. Miller (Ninth Circuit), Eric E. Murphy (Sixth Circuit), Chad A. Readler (Sixth Circuit), and Allison Jones Rushing (Fourth Circuit).  The judicial nominees had previously had hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee but were held up by Democrats' delays and obstructions, so they had to be re-nominated by President Trump in this Congress.

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for current Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator and Scalia Law Professor Neomi Rao's nomination to the D.C. Circuit.  RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen described in the Daily Caller how Senate Judiciary Democrats attempted to trip her up and ended up only looking foolish themselves:

President Trump has started 2019 by continuing his success of nominating excellent, well-qualified judges. This was the first major test of new White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and he has passed with flying colors.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board raised initial concerns that an unnecessary compromise might be in the works with the California Senators. They explained:

The RNLA will honor Mike Davis, former Chief Nominations Counsel to then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, with the 2019 Betty Murphy Award. Prior to serving Sen. Grassley, Davis worked in private practice in Denver where he chaired RNLA’s Colorado Chapter, clerked for Justice Neil Gorsuch when he was on the Tenth Circuit, helped get Justice Gorsuch confirmed, and again clerked for Justice Gorsuch at the Supreme Court.

Last Friday, a group of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky were provoked and attacked because of their Catholic beliefs and outward support of President Trump by wearing hats that said “Make America Great Again.” The students and their parents have been faced with threats of attack and fear that their families will be destroyed; this is the same hostility that Justice Kavanaugh and his family faced during his hearing and confirmation process.

Today, President Trump sent to the Senate a list of executive branch nominations, which included many who were nominated during the last Congress, but either never had a hearing or were never voted on. Those nominated include: former RNLA Chair John Ryder, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority; former RNLA Chair Kimberly Reed, to be President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States; RNLA member James "Trey" Trainor, to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission; and RNLA member Dennis Kirk, to be Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Last night, President Trump addressed the nation on the crisis at the southern border by outlining the violence, harm, and security threats that are occurring, and praising the border agents who are risking their lives everyday to keep America safe. As evident by Speaker Pelosi’s and Minority Leader Schumer’s response, the Democrats are continuing to let partisan politics control these issues and are failing to acknowledge the humanitarian and national security crisis that exists, and are refusing to provide support to border patrol agents who protect our nation. The Democrats are the sole cause for the partial government shutdown and are ensuring that there are a lack of resources at the southern border.

The partial government shutdown is on its 17th day, which started on Saturday, December 22nd to partially shutdown a quarter of the federal government, which included nine government agencies: the Departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Interior, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. What the media and Democrats are refusing to reference is the fact that three-fourths of the government is fully funded through fiscal year 2019, ending on September 30, 2019.

When the 116th Congress started last Thursday, all pending nominations from the 115th Congress were sent back to the White House and the nominees will need to be renominated to be considered for confirmation by the new Senate.  The hundreds of nominations sent back to the White House included a record number of judicial nominees, due to Democrats' delay and obstruction.  Tom Jipping of the Heritage Foundation described the problem and the Democrats' tactics:

At the end of last month, The Daily Caller reviewed the top 32 "worst cases of media misquotes, misleading narratives, major corrections and straight-up fake news" in 2018.  It's no surprise that nearly all of them portrayed President Trump, Trump Administration officials, Trump nominees, or Republicans in an inaccurately poor light.  What may be surprising is a full quarter, or eight, related to the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court: