When more than 80 judges signed a letter opposing Emil Bove’s judicial nomination, they implored the US Senate to do its job in interrogating and investigating a host of serious claims that undermine the independence and credibility of his potential judgeship.
Now, Bove is among them – a member of the judiciary.
The Senate narrowly – and quickly – confirmed Bove for a lifetime appointment to the United States court of appeals for the third circuit, on a 50-49 vote, without looking deeply into allegations from multiple whistleblowers.
The retired judges, in their 15 July letter, warned that elevating to the judiciary someone like Bove – who allegedly has shown a disregard for court orders, fired prosecutors who don’t align politically with Trump, and once personally represented the president – would “set a dangerous precedent that judicial power may be wielded in service of personal fealty rather than constitutional duty”.
Lena Zwarensteyn, senior director of the fair courts program and an adviser at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said the senators who voted to confirm Bove “failed their constituents and our country”.
“For the future of our courts and our democracy, this cannot be the new normal for the US Senate,” Zwarensteyn said.
Bove’s confirmation fits the tenor of the second Trump administration: loyalty to the president is the primary litmus test for elected Republicans who largely line up behind him with minimal questioning.
The Senate is tasked with the power to “advise and consent” on judicial nominees. “The constitution gives the Senate the authority to advise and consent for a reason,” said Allyson Duncan, a retired fourth US circuit court of appeals judge. “And the process has to serve that purpose, and it does not serve that purpose if it’s truncated.”
Trump has raged against judges who ruled against him – including conservatives and his own appointees. His administration has openly defied court orders and flouted the rule of law. These attacks have led to death threats and harassment against judges, and led to rare public comments by high-profile members of the judiciary who have called for turning down the rhetoric.
Stocking the judiciary with people who will not defy him is an extension of this battle for control of a separate branch of government. Loyalty as litmus test was apparent in Trump’s announcement that he would nominate Bove. Alongside his legal bona fides – a Georgetown Law degree, a near-decade as assistant US attorney in the southern district of New York – Trump highlighted his allegiance.
Related: Emil Bove’s confirmation hearing was a travesty | Sidney Blumenthal
“He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Emil Bove will never let you down!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Quinta Jurecic, a writer for the Atlantic, detailed how Bove’s confirmation was a “sign of the times” and a signal to young lawyers of what it will take to get ahead now. “Whatever approach Bove takes from here, his path so far has demonstrated that total sycophancy to the president can be a fantastic career move for ambitious lawyers,” she wrote.
Bove’s work in the past six months as acting deputy attorney general and then principal associate deputy attorney general in the Department of Justice includes a host of legal and ethical issues that, if he had been nominated to a prestigious and lifelong judicial position in years past, would have probably led to months of hearings and, potentially, disqualification.
The Senate judiciary committee chair, Chuck Grassley, a Republican, panned Democrats who called for Bove to be rejected. He said Democrats had engaged in a “delay-and-obstruction tactic” and claimed he had “thoroughly” vetted the nominee and whistleblower claims.
“My message to the three whistleblowers is this: just because I may disagree with the conclusions in a whistleblower disclosure, it doesn’t mean that I don’t support a whistleblower’s right to come forward,” Grassley said.
Whistleblower Erez Reuveni, a fired justice department official, claims Bove told department lawyers that they “would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order” that would block them from sending immigrants to El Salvador. Bove has denied this, though Reuveni has provided messages that back up his claims. A second, unidentified whistleblower represented by the non-profit Whistleblower Aid also provided evidence that corroborated Reuveni’s allegations, the organization said.
More than 900 former justice department lawyers wrote in a letter that “Bove has been a leader in this assault” on the rule of law and on career employees who sought to uphold it. Bove “directed the termination” of more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on cases related to January 6, the letter says.
A third whistleblower has alleged that Bove misled Congress about his role in dropping corruption charges against the New York mayor, Eric Adams, the Washington Post reported. Some veteran prosecutors resigned their roles instead of following orders to end the prosecution of Adams for several fraud and bribery charges.
Bove’s confirmation “does undermine faith in the judiciary”, said the retired federal judge Shira Scheindlin, who served in the southern district of New York and signed the letter from retired judges. “This man is the wrong person to sit on a federal appellate court. He doesn’t have the right background, the right qualifications. Actions speak louder than anything.”
