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Mr. Bogren, a Kalamazoo-based lawyer, was nominated for the Western District of Michigan judgeship in March by the Trump administration. But Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri and Thom Tillis of North Carolina all voiced objections to Mr. Bogren’s nomination . . . Republicans objected to Mr. Bogren’s recent writings in a case in which he was defending East Lansing, Mich. The city barred a Catholic couple from participating in the farmers market over their opposition to hosting same-sex marriages on their farm, and the couple sued. In defending the city, Mr. Bogren compared the couple’s...

There are 34 Senate seats up for election in 2020 — including a special election in Arizona — many of which are expected to be brutally competitive as Democrats vie for control of the Senate. Quick take: The U.S. Senate is currently made up of 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and 2 independents who caucus with the Democrats. Dems must win 3 or 4 seats to take control of the Senate — 4 to recapture control — or 3, if they also win the vice presidency. Some of the fiercest races will come from Virginia, North Carolina and New Hampshire, according...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said on Thursday that he will oppose President Trump's emergency declaration to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall. "I will vote today for the resolution of disapproval. This is a vote for the Constitution and for the balance of powers that is at its core," Romney said in a statement. Romney is the sixth Republican senator to say he will vote for the resolution of disapproval, which is getting a vote in the Senate later Thursday.

President Trump is facing a potential revolt among Senate Republicans over his decision to declare a national emergency to construct the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) public announcement over the weekend that he will oppose Trump’s declaration ensures a resolution blocking it will be approved by the Senate after already passing the House — unless Senate Republicans can find some kind of last-minute way out of the showdown. Republicans have been hunting for a way out of a fight over the declaration that has badly fractured the caucus, but Paul’s decision underscores the difficulty leadership faces in finding...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he expects his chamber will have the votes to pass a resolution blocking President Trump’s national emergency declaration, but an effort to override a presidential veto will fail in the House. “I think what is clear in the Senate is that there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House,” McConnell said Monday. He said the Senate vote would happen before the lawmakers go on a one-week recess March 15.

Democrats in Congress seem giddy this morning over their impending “victory� in the battle against President Trump’s southern border emergency declaration. What they see as the final nail in the coffin is Senator Rand Paul’s announcement that he would be voting in favor of a resolution blocking the declaration. The Hill describes it as a “GOP rebellion� in the making.To be sure, with Rand Paul on board it looks as if the Senate will pass the same measure already pushed through in the House. And he’s taken the time to explain his reasons for going against the President in...

Tennessee GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander told President Trump on Thursday that he should reconsider his decision to declare a national emergency at the southern border or face a possible Republican rebellion. Alexander, who is retiring, refused to say whether he would join three other Republicans — Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — in voting against the declaration.

In both his excuses and op-ed, Sen. Thom Tillis sounds like another Democrat North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis’ ‘support’ for President Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the border is as splintered as a certain part of his anatomy from sitting on the fence. His both For-Trump but-Against-Him, as laid out in a Washington Post op-ed, is akin to instructing someone to get out there and take down the enemy—but don’t mess him up in the bargain.

(CNN)Republican Sen. Thom Tillis will vote in favor of a resolution against President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border, the North Carolinian wrote Monday in a Washington Post op-ed Tillis wrote that, while he favors border security, he is concerned the President has overreached with the national emergency declaration. "As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress," he wrote. "As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left-wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms." Sen. Susan...

Sen. Thom Tillis said in a column posted Monday evening that he will oppose President Trump’s declaration of a border-security emergency. In an op-ed for the Washington Post, the North Carolina Republican said he would support a resolution blocking Mr. Trump’s decree when it comes before the Senate. “I would vote in favor of the resolution disapproving of the president’s national-emergency declaration, if and when it comes before the Senate,” he concluded the column after laying out his support for Mr. Trump’s border-security agenda in general and criticizing Democrats’ obstructionism on the matter. But he said it’s a matter of...

In the wake of President Trump's national emergency declaration, some congressional Republicans are already fearing the precedent he has set. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) outlined these concerns in a statement Friday, criticizing Trump's "executive overreach" and saying that this will "create a new precedent that a left-wing president would undoubtedly utilize to implement their radical policy agenda." In fact, Tillis took Republicans through a few specific hypothetical scenarios, imagining that President Bernie Sanders would declare a national emergency to "implement a radical Green New Deal," President Elizabeth Warren would do so to "shut down the banks," and President Cory Booker...

Six GOP Senators briefed Jared Kushner and President Donald Trump’s top congressional aide about a plan to swap two amnesties in exchange for border-wall funding. The six GOP Senators included Graham, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, Ohio’s Rob Portman, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Maine’s Susan Collins. The Senators’ draft offer to the Democrats, however, also includes incentives sought by GOP-aligned business groups, such as an expansion of the H-2B blue collar visa-worker program. Few Democrats support the H-2B visa program but its inclusion could encourage GOP legislators to ignore protests from the GOP’s pro-American base. Several GOP Senators...

Five Republican senators had breakfast with Attorney General Jeff Sessions last week and encouraged him to not resign despite constant pressure from President Donald Trump. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sessions invited Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and John Kennedy of Louisiana to dine with him last Thursday morning at the Department of Justice. The meeting took place in Sessions' dining room and included a lengthy discussion about Trump's repeated attacks on him. The senators, according to the Journal, urged Sessions to keep doing what he's...

The confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s latest judicial nomination was refreshingly bipartisan for Trump's first ever out lesbian pick. Trump nominated Illinois judge Mary M. Rowland, through a June announcement, for a seat as a district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Why is this significant for Instinct Readers? Because Rowland is an out lesbian and the first openly LGBTQ judge to be nominated by Trump since entering the White Rowland has had a long standing history in the world of law. She got her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and...

Wednesday on Hugh Hewitt’s nationally syndicated radio show, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he anticipated that Judge Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the vacancy left by the retiring Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, would be confirmed during September. Should Kavanaugh be confirmed by mid-September, which Tillis said it was a 100 percent chance probability, it would set Kavanaugh up for the beginning of the high court’s term in October.

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - Three U.S. senators introduced a measure on Thursday aimed at blocking the transfer of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkey, a NATO ally and one of nine partner nations involved in producing the high-tech, radar-evading aircraft. The bill, by Republicans James Lankford and Thom Tillis, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, comes at a time of deteriorating relations between the United States and Turkey, which supported the fight against Islamic State but has become increasingly worried about U.S. backing for Kurdish fighters in north Syria. snip Turkey plans to buy more than 100 of the F-35 aircraft....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee passed its version of a $716 billion defense policy bill on Thursday, including a measure to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets.The amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, from Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, would remove Turkey from the F-35 program over its detention of U.S. citizen Andrew Brunson, Shaheen’s office said. Brunson, a Christian pastor who could be jailed for up to 35 years, denied terrorism and spying charges in a Turkish court this month. He has been in pre-trial...

A U.S. Senate committee passed a $716 billion defense policy bill on Thursday, including a measure to prevent Turkey from purchasing Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets.The amendment to the National Defense Authorisation Act, from Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, would remove Turkey from the F-35 program over its detention of U.S. citizen Andrew Brunson, Shaheen’s office said.Brunson, a Christian pastor who may be jailed for up to 35 years, has denied terrorism and spying charges in a Turkish court this month. He has been in pre-trial detention since 2016.It also faults NATO ally Turkey...

It would be unconstitutional for Congress to prevent President Trump from firing Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. I’m not saying that firing Mueller would be a wise move politically, nor am I urging the president to do so. That’s another issue. But under the Constitution, it is beyond the power of Congress to limit or impose conditions on any president’s authority to remove a political appointee within the Justice Department or any other department in the executive branch. Whether you think Donald Trump is an absolutely wonderful president or an absolutely...

A group of bipartisan senators is introducing new legislation to limit President Trump's ability to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) will introduce the legislation, the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, on Wednesday. The legislation would let Mueller, or any other special counsel, receive an "expedited judicial review" within 10 days of being fired to determine if it was for a "good cause." If it was determined it wasn't, he would be reinstated. It would also codify regulations that only a senior Justice Department official can...