What is the consensus among grammar experts on this phrase? It annoys the poop out of me. People say it way too often. Is it a form of “overnominalization”, making everything into a noun (a “fact”)? Also, it often times refers to something more subjective that a hard fact.
You’re jealous of the fact that I’m smarter than you.
He was annoyed by the fact that he lost the race.
And so on, ad nauseum. I’ve noticed it’s one of those words used by people in debates who aren’t as smart as they hope to come off (similar to the misuse of “myself” and “whom” and preposition-first sentence construction [in which they start correctly…and then end with the preposition anyway!]). But I digress…is this an acceptable practice?
I had to develop an English skills test for my company. I used two college grammar texts to help, and I don’t remember reading anything about this. However, that was 10 years ago with texts that were probably 10 years old.
The fact that I did not find anything does not negate the fact that it bothers you, however. 
You don’t seem to be asking about grammer but rather about a method of argument.
Here’s a slice from the Skeptic’s Dictionary:
Begging the question is what one does in an argument when one assumes what one claims to be proving.
An argument is a form of reasoning whereby one gives a reason or reasons in support of some claim. The reasons are called premises and the claim one tries to support with them is called the conclusion.
If one’s premises entail one’s conclusion, and one’s premises are questionable, one is said to beg the question.
The following argument begs the question.
We know God exists because we can see the perfect order of His Creation, an order which demonstrates supernatural intelligence in its design.