Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick, infamously mispresented his client’s views in his effort to defame Justice Kavanaugh.  Avenatti was on his never-ending crusade for publicity that has him currently facing trial for extortion.  Now, the actions of another lawyer for a Kavanaugh accuser are raising questions about their motives and the underlying accusations. 

If Ben Franklin were alive today, he would amend his famous quote on Death and Taxes to say the only things certain in life are Death, Taxes and that liberals will attack any judicial nominee of President Trump.  Today we will briefly go over that the fallout over the defamatory attacks on Judge Brett Kavanaugh continue, the latest outrageous attack on a Jewish nominee, and a bit of news on the future. 

Undaunted by the backlash against their personal attacks on Catholic nominees for their religious faith, Democrats and their liberal allies are attacking President Trump's new nominee for the Second Circuit, Steven Menashi, for being...a Jew who defends Israel.  

While the House Democrats were dealing with their own members' anti-Semitism and trying to pass legislation to allow 16-year-olds to vote,  Senator Mitch McConnell is getting the work of the American people done in the U.S. Senate.  Last week he laid the groundwork to confirm 19 district court judges this week. 

Joe Biden's announcement that he is running for President was unique in that the prelude included several apologies or near apologies for his behavior toward women.  Among those apologies was one to Anita Hill, who falsely accused Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.  As former Associate White House Counsel Mark Paoletta wrote a few years back when the Hill-Thomas subject was being brought up in relation to the Bill Cosby and Roger Ailes matters:

Thanks to the leadership of Senator James Lankford and Leader Mitch McConnell, efficiency and order have been restored to the U.S. Senate. Their resolve to move past the Democrats’ partisan obstruction is now allowing the Senate to fill judicial vacancies in a timely manner and equip federal courts to be fully operational and serve the American people.

Under the leadership of Senators Chuck Grassley, Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, and Mitch McConnell, Senate Republicans have been confirming judges at record pace.  Democrats have not tried to substantively oppose most nominees (maybe because they are so well qualified) but have attempted to use obscure Senate procedures to do so.  An example was the “cloture rule:”

This involves Rule 22, which provides a time consuming process to end debate, a necessary step before the Senate can vote on confirmation. Under Rule 22, even when the Senate votes to end debate, there can be up to 30 more hours of consideration. In the past, the minority party cooperated to informally schedule a final confirmation vote. Today, Democrats will not cooperate on anything, forcing the Senate to use this drawn out process for nearly every nomination, including those with no actual opposition.

The Senate has taken six times as many of these unnecessary cloture votes as during the same period under the previous nine presidents combined. You read that right. Even though the Senate votes to end debate every time, Democrats insist that the clock keep running for those 30 hours of debate after cloture. Even worse, they almost never spend time on the Senate floor actually debating these nominations.

On Friday during the National Policy Conference, the RNLA gave the 2019 Betty Murphy Award to Mike Davis, former Chief Counsel for Nominations to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Mr. Davis tweeted that former Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is the true "unsung hero" of confirming President Trump's judicial nominees:

Honored. But the real unsung hero of the fight to confirm Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, & the rest of President @realDonaldTrump’s judicial nominees is @ChuckGrassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (and my boss) last Congress. Grassley Works. Grassley Delivers. https://t.co/maqwHgaU0k

— Mike Davis (@mrddmia) April 5, 2019

This is the first in a series of posts summarizing 2020 Democratic presidential candidates' views on judges and the courts.  All posts in this series can be viewed here.

Senator Kamala Harris on Judges

Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republican Senators have had enough of the obstruction by Senate Democrats led by Chuck Schumer.  Here are a few of the numbers:

• Until 1968, cloture had never been required for any nomination. By 1978, it had been required for two (2).
• During the first two years of the last six (6) presidential administrations before President Trump (dating to 1977), 24 total cloture votes had to be held on nominations.  The first two years of President Trump’s administration: 128 cloture votes had to be held on nominations.
• These cloture votes are not for “controversial nominees.” The list includes 42 different executive branch positions that were forced to endure cloture votes for the first time ever, including:  Assistant Secretaries and Agency General Counsels.