Free Republic

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said he will support 5th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Kyle Duncan, amid mounting criticism of Kennedy's hesitation from conservatives in his home state and Washington. The Republican leveraged longstanding Senate traditions to slow Duncan's nomination to the federal appeals court based in New Orleans. He cited concerns with the nomination process leading to Duncan's selection and the paperwork submitted to Congress regarding the nomination as prompting his hesitation. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Duncan's nomination Wednesday, where Kennedy vocalized his grievances. Influential conservatives responded immediately by questioning his loyalty to "President Trump...

Despite losing the 2016 election largely because the Democrat Party refused to move away from divisive identity based politics they have apparently not learned their lesson, with at least one powerful female Democrat deciding to piggyback off the wave of sexual assault allegations sweeping the country by openly telling Michigan voters to vote for her because she is a women. Democratic candidate for Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, has released an ad for her campaign that directly implies that voters should choose her simply because she does not have a penis and therefore cannot sexually assault someone she works with...

In a segment that aired on Thursday’s broadcast of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned if he and his colleagues were not able to get tax cut legislation passed and on the president’s desk, there would be consequences for the Republican Party. One of those consequences he said would be giving former White House chief strategist and Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon an “argument” to defeat incumbents in next year’s midterm elections. “Our base fractures, people won’t put up our signs, people won’t write checks, the party will collapse under its own weight,” Graham said. “Steve...

The stock market keeps breaking records, and the latest gross domestic product data show that the real economy is roaring, too. The tax cut bill—despite being about as popular as North Korea—moved significantly closer to Senate passage on Wednesday, as Republican senators on the fence swallowed their doubts and voted to move it to the floor for a Thursday vote. This same tax bill will do much to gut the same Affordable Care Act that was “saved” a few months ago by three defecting Republicans. Another Trump nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals was confirmed by the Senate, meaning...

Throughout the halls of power in Washington, D.C. the establishment is growing increasingly nervous. Republican senators and congressmen alike are starting to look over their shoulders — and what they’re seeing is making a lot of people anxious. The 2018 elections are coming… and it has the GOP very, very nervous that conservatives are going to vote them out of office. Former White House senior advisor Steve Bannon is telling people he’s not coming after mainstream Republicans in the House the way he’s targeting senators with anti-establishment disrupters in primaries. Many in the House are looking over their shoulders all...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday is poised to confirm one of President Donald Trump's legal advisers to serve on a powerful appellate court. Gregory Katsas has worked on some of the president's most high-profile and contentious decisions, including his executive orders restricting travel for citizens of predominantly Muslim countries and his decision to end a program protecting some young immigrants from deportation. Democratic lawmakers have argued that they don't trust Katsas, 53, will be truly independent in cases involving the president, but they are relatively powerless to stop his confirmation. Katsas serves as deputy assistant to the president...

WASHINGTON Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez will announce he is retiring and won't seek re-election next year. The 13-term lawmaker from Chicago has been a leader in his party's efforts to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. His decision was confirmed by a Washington Democrat on condition of anonymity because the congressman had yet to announce his decision. Gutierrez, 63, is a leading member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He's pushed for federal aid to help rebuild storm-battered Puerto Rico. His parents came from Puerto Rico before moving to Chicago in the 1950s. The congressman has also clashed repeatedly with President...

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday amid thunderous applause of supporters even as pro-government forces fired on protesters angered by the contentious election process that kept him in power. The inauguration capped an incredibly fraught few months for Kenya that saw an election canceled, weeks of unrest, an opposition boycott and finally a new election that gave Kenyatta 98 percent of the vote... ...Kenyatta noted that the past few months “have been a trying time” but assured the country that the elections “are now firmly behind us.” So many people tried to push...

NBC 5 has learned Congressman Luis Gutierrez will announce Tuesday he is not running for re-election after 24 years on Capitol Hill, sources say. Guitterez telephoned key democratic leaders late this afternoon to let them know of his plans. Calls to Guitterez tonight have not been returned. Already printing petitions Monday night-- to begin the process of getting signatures before next Monday's deadline -- is Cook County Commissioner Jesus Chuy Garcia. Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa is considering a congressional race. This will also leave an opening on the county board should Garcia opt for Guitterez's seat.

MIAMI — Grisel Robles arrived in Miami in late September, after Hurricane Maria flooded her house and wiped out the life she and her family had. Starting a new job and rebuilding her life, along with her husband and 6-month-old daughter, has left little time to focus on politics. But she is taking note of one aspect of the political landscape. "I have noticed who is defending our rights as Puerto Ricans," she said. It could very well be that Puerto Ricans like Robles are the deciding factor in the Florida Senate race and a number of other key races....

Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, is a failure. There’s no disputing that fact, which has become apparent even to himself. Despite having control of both the House and the Senate, his party can not accomplish anything on their to-do list. Even his best efforts, holding votes in the middle of the night trying to sneak things through, he still can’t get anything passed. McConnell has finally admitted to his failure, but he’s still being arrogant about it. During a recent radio interview he said,“I choose not to dwell on situations where we come up a little bit short. Even...

Sen. Lindsey Graham bemoaned President Donald Trump's support for Alabama Senate Republican candidate Roy Moore on Sunday, calling the move a lose-lose situation. "If he wins, we get the baggage of him winning, and it becomes a story every day about whether or not you believe the women or Roy Moore, should he stay in the Senate, should he be expelled?" Graham said on CNN's "State of the Union." "If you lose, you give the Senate seat to a Democrat at a time where we need all the votes we can get.

Nobody wants to be on Team McConnell. Heading into the 2018 elections, only one Republican Senate candidate nationwide has pledged unequivocally to back Mitch McConnell as majority leader. Most Republicans facing competitive primaries are hemming and hawing, admiring McConnell’s political savvy and fundraising apparatus — but also looking warily at his sinking approval ratings both with Republicans and the broader electorate.

Of all the State Department employees who might have been vulnerable in the staff reductions that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson has initiated as he reshapes the department, the one person who seemed least likely to be a target was the chief of security, Bill A. Miller. Republicans pilloried Hillary Clinton for what they claimed was her inadequate attention to security as secretary of state in the months before the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Congress even passed legislation mandating that the department’s top security official have unrestricted access to the secretary of state. But in his first...

Judge Roy Moore will do what is right for Alabama and for America. And when Majority Leader McConnell calls for a unanimous vote to declare the Senate to be in a Pro Forma Session, Senator Moore will not mislabel it. If Congress is in recess, and no serious business is being conducted, he will vote to call it a recess. You see, Congress has these “pro forma” sessions that pretend Congress is still in session so the President cannot make any recess appointments to any position. But I suspect the key to these votes is that they have been unanimous....

This will be a weekly post The senate is not in session this week, so still 13 out of 62 confirmed. However, Grassley will be moving two blue-slipped nominees through committee this coming week.

Mitch McConnell, who rumor has it is the Republican leader in the Senate, has nothing to be thankful for this year, and things could get worse for him in 2018. He has already lost one close ally in Luther Strange, who was beaten by Judge Roy Moore despite the fact that McConnell gave him nine million dollars to aid in his campaign. It appears that Strange could be the least of his worries as the 2018 primary elections are bound to cause him angina. McConnell held out hope that the sex allegations against Moore would prevent him from winning the...

(The following is an open letter to the voters of Alabama from Bill Staehle of Asbury Park, New Jersey.) I served with Roy Moore in Vietnam in 1971-72, where I knew him to be an altogether honorable, decent, respectable, and patriotic commander and soldier. I have had no contact with him since. He and I were captains and company commanders in the 504th Military Police Battalion, stationed at the base camp called Camp Land, just west of Danang. I knew him well in my first four months in-country before I was re-assigned within the battalion to another location. During that...

One Supreme Court case provides a clue about the limits that may be placed on the Senate if it attempts either to deny Moore a seat or to expel him once he has been seated. In 1967, a special House committee determined that New York Rep. Adam Clayton Powell’s staff had falsified travel expenses and caused illegal payments to his wife. Rather than censure and fine Powell for this misconduct, the House voted by a simple majority to exclude—meaning, refuse to seat—Powell after his reelection. Powell sued, and when Powell v. McCormack made it to the Supreme Court, the court...

“I think the goal is to end the progressive state as we know it,” said Baher Azmy, Legal Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a progressive-leaning legal advocacy group.