Congress is back from its August recess, and Biden's judicial nominees up for confirmation by the Senate are as bad as ever. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to consider several nominees. Of particular concern to Committee Republicans were Richard Federico, nominated to the Tenth Circuit, and Eumi Lee, nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley grilled Federico on a case where he advocated for a sentence as defense counsel well below the recommended guidlines for a case involving child sexual abuse material. The Daily Wire reported:

Hawley began by laying out the details of the case he was referring to, noting that the sentencing guidelines recommended up to 240 months — or 20 years — in prison. The recommended range, he said, was from 210 months to 240 — but Federico had asked for just 105 months. . .

Earlier this week, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan issued a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding allegations that the Bureau "sought to use local religious organizations as 'new avenues for tripwire and source development.'"

🚨 #BREAKING: We now know the FBI, relying on information derived from at least one 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 employee, sought to use local religious organizations as “new avenues for tripwire and source development.” pic.twitter.com/97veIGtvq4

— Weaponization Committee (@Weaponization) April 10, 2023

While Democrats wanted to fight over whether men can get pregnant in today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, “A Post-Roe America: The Legal Consequences of the Dobbs Decision,” Republicans focused on the importance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and how it restores the democratic process.

The GOP has unequivocally condemned the increase in antisemitic attacks taking place in cities across the country and have called out inappropriate rhetoric in their own party. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Democrat Party which has allowed anti-Israel rhetoric to proliferate within its ranks despite its connection to the increase in violence. The rise in antisemitic attacks comes in the broader context of generally higher violent crime rates in cities that have voted to reduce funding for law enforcement over the last year. 

These Anti-Semitic attacks must be condemned.

The scenes that have unfolded in the United States are horrifying. This is not what this country stands for and every American must speak out against these attacks.

— GOP (@GOP) May 24, 2021

On Wednesday, the New York Post published an article about emails obtained from a laptop abandoned by Hunter Biden at a repair shop that confirm some of the accusations regarding impropriety in Hunter Biden's position on the board of Burisma and former Vice President Biden's involvement. This might have been a story that only made an impression with the devoted MAGA crowd, except that Twitter decided it violated a policy against "hacked materials," blocked users from tweeting the article, and suspended accounts that had posted it, including the accounts of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign's account (@TeamTrump), and the New York Post itself. This policy was not applied to the New York Times story from a few weeks ago that published information from President Trump's tax returns that had been obtained not just through irregular channels but illegally. Facebook quickly followed suit to suppress the story, and the mainstream media completely ignored that the story had been published.

This afternoon, President Trump announced 20 additional distinguished attorneys and judges to the list of nominees he would consider for any future Supreme Court vacancy.  Polling showed that then-candidate Trump's list in 2016 was important to many voters who supported him, and he kept his promise of choosing off the list when he nominated Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Court.  Further, President Trump selected from his list for many of his highly qualified nominees to lower federal courts during his first term, providing unprecedented transparency regarding judicial nominations from a presidential candidate.

By contrast, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has not released a list, nor has he indicated that he will release one, leaving voters to wonder whom he would consider for any Supreme Court vacancy.  Would a President Biden choose off the troubling Demand Justice list or the secret Alliance for Justice list?  Both possibilities should terrify any American who values the rule of law.

Today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reiterated that he will not let the House Democrats dictate the Senate's impeachment trial procedures:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking from the chamber’s floor Friday, rejected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to shape a pending impeachment trial as “fantasy”—leaving the process at a standstill as lawmakers return from the holiday recess.

“Their turn is over. They’ve done enough damage. It’s the Senate’s turn now to render sober judgment,” McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor. . . .

President Trump nominated Steven Menashi to the Second Circuit. In a fair world, Mr. Menashi would breeze through the hearings. The liberal gold standard of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the American Bar Association, rated him “well qualified.” His personal background is also inspiring. Menashi’s paternal grandparents were Iraqi Jews, living in Baghdad, before moving to Tehran and then finding a home in Israel. His grandmother survived the Farhud, a violent pogrom against the Jewish community of Baghdad in 1941, by fleeing the city for the countryside. Menashi’s grandfather fled Ukraine for the United States at age 16 and his maternal grandmother’s family emigrated from Lithuania.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will have three new faces on the Republican side as the 116^th Congress gets underway today: Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, Senator Marsh Blackburn from Tennessee, and Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri. Senators Ernst and Blackburn will be the first two women to ever serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Republicans. These new committee members will be in the spotlight as the Senate Judiciary Committee looks to continue confirmation hearings on judges and cabinet members, especially the already announced hearing on President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, which will take place on January 15 and 16, per a statement released by outgoing Chairman Chuck Grassley and incoming Chairman Lindsey Graham.