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.

Senate Judiciary Democrats are once again facing criticism for their treatment of a judicial nominee. However this time it comes from an unexpected source, the Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii. She wrote: 

While I oppose the nomination of Brian Buescher to the U.S. District Court in Nebraska, I stand strongly against those who are fomenting religious bigotry, citing as disqualifiers Buescher’s Catholicism and his affiliation with the Knights of Columbus. If Buescher is “unqualified” because of his Catholicism and affiliation with the Knights of Columbus, then President John F. Kennedy, and the 'liberal lion of the Senate' Ted Kennedy would have been “unqualified” for the same reasons.  

Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution clearly states that there "shall be no religious test" for any seeking to serve in public office.
No American should be told that his or her public service is unwelcome because “the dogma lives loudly within you” as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said to Amy Coney Barrett during her confirmation hearings in 2017 to serve as U.S. Circuit Court judge in the 7th Circuit.

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:

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.

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:

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.

During the 115th Congress, President Donald Trump, former White House Counsel Don McGahn, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have had great accomplishments regarding the appointment of conservative judges. There have been 85 new federal judges confirmed, including Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, 30 circuit court judges, and 53 district court judges. Despite these accomplishments, Senate Democrats continue their obstruction by holding up the confirmation of six more circuit court judges and 48 district court nominees.

While the ABA, nonpartisan and Republican legal circles all agree that Thomas Farr is well qualified to be a District Court Judge, Senator Schumer and DC-based liberal judicial smear groups are attacking Mr. Farr.  The irony is that the items they are attacking him for are supported by Democrats!

First, Mr. Farr is being attacked for defending North Carolina’s voter ID law for his client, the state of North Carolina.  Putting aside the lawyer's ethical duty to his clients, voter ID is supported by a large majority of Democrats in every survey released.  The most recent survey put the numbers at 63% support for a photo ID requirement from Democrats and more interesting, 69% support from lower-educated Democrats.

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.

Today, President Trump gave Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.  Senator Hatch was given the award along with six others, including the late Justice Antonin Scalia.  Senator Hatch, who is retiring, is currently the longest-serving senator and Senate President pro tempore, and voted on the confirmation of every current Supreme Court justice.