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.

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

If you read the Huffington Post, you would have to believe that the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee are out of control and acted in an unprecedented fashion yesterday when they held hearings.  The reality is that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was merely doing what he made an agreement with Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein to do.  Meanwhile, led by Ranking Member Feinstein, Senate Democrats have brought unprecedented indignity and degradation to the modern Senate. 

NEW: In a detailed, 29-page letter Chairman @ChuckGrassley has referred Michael Avenatti and Julie Swetnick to the Attorney General and FBI Director for criminal investigation for providing false statements, obstructing investigations, and conspiracy.https://t.co/ZjQWtnqQOM pic.twitter.com/DNYNGxel4K

— Senator Hatch Office (@senorrinhatch) October 25, 2018

Yesterday was Don McGahn's last day as White House Counsel.  After serving President Trump as campaign counsel during his 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. McGahn served as White House Counsel during the pivotal first half of President Trump's current term.  He played a vital role in vetting and recommending attorneys who respect the rule of law to serve as federal judges, including Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.  With Mr. McGahn's advice, President Trump has nominated and the Senate has confirmed two Supreme Court justices, 29 U.S. Courts of Appeals judges, and 53 U.S. District Court judges.  Currently 57 Article III court nominees remain pending before the Senate.

The Democrats' smear of Justice Brett Kavanaugh is having an effect in the Senate.  The Senate is by tradition a place that runs on unanimous consent.  Nominations have rules and decorum that have to be followed.  If they are not, the minority can slow things down.  Democrats have done this on almost ALL Trump nominations. 

Democrats file cloture on every nominee, which kicks off 30 hours of debate even if no Senator is opposed. They figure if they can’t defeat nominees they can delay and consume valuable time. Democrats have forced 117 cloture votes—versus 12 in Barack Obama’s first two years and four in George W. Bush’s.

The question this month is whether Senate Democrats will accept a deal to confirm more judges and nominees, which would allow vulnerable Members to return home to campaign.

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.