Trump Nominates Four to Court Seats in Texas, Michigan

WASHINGTON (CN) - President Donald Trump on Friday announced plans to nominate four new judges to federal district courts in Texas and Michigan.

Trump intends to tap Michigan attorney Michael Bogren to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Bogren currently works as chairman of the board of directors for the firm Plunkett Cooney and is the managing partner for the firm's office in Kalamazoo.

Bogren has focused his practice on representing municipalities in court and in addition to his responsibilities at Plunkett Cooney, he currently works as village attorney for Hopkins, Michigan.

Bogren also currently represents a Michigan vacation home association in a federal court fight over the group's policy of only allowing Christians to own property in the community. In September, Bogren filed a motion for partial summary judgment in the case after the community changed its bylaws to drop the faith-based requirement, according to court records.

Trump also intends to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Dawkins Davis to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. A magistrate judge since 2016 and former federal prosecutor, Davis would be the first African-American woman Trump has nominated to the federal bench during his time in office, according to the Detroit News.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Davis worked at the law firm Dickinson Wright, where she focused on products liability and commercial litigation, according to her profile on her court's website.

In addition to the two picks for Michigan courts, Trump also announced he would be tapping two to seats on courts in Texas.

Justice Jeffrey Brown currently serves on the Texas Supreme Court, a position he took over in 2013 after spending time on the state's 14th Court of Appeals and the 55th District Court. Running as a Republican, Brown retained his seat in the 2018 election, pulling in more than 53 percent of the vote.

Following a trend of other Trump judges nominated from Texas, Brown developed a reputation for his use of social media, specifically for a Twitter account he runs called @camryofjustice, from which he tweets in the voice of a 14-year-old Toyota Camry he uses to travel around Texas. His campaign website features an interactive map showing all the stops the car has made, though the Twitter account is now locked.

Brown is up for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

Trump also nominated Brantley Starr, currently deputy first assistant attorney general of Texas, to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Starr has a lengthy record of work in the Texas government and clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge Don Willett, himself a Trump nominee, when he was still serving on the Texas Supreme Court.

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