Republicans Advance Trump Judicial Nominee Said to Have Urged Court Defiance

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved the nomination of Emil Bove, one of President Donald Trump’s former attorneys, to a lifetime judgeship on a prestigious appeals court.

During the vote, Republicans on the panel raised no objections to Bove’s nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit despite several former officials alleging that he’s been central to Trump’s efforts to weaponize the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Bove’s nomination now goes to the full Senate for a final vote.

Before the committee’s vote, Democrats invoked a rule to continue debating Bove’s nomination but the committee chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ignored their calls and proceeded. 

“This is a kangaroo court!” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) shouted before walking out of the hearing along with several other Democrats.

A whistleblower report last month alleged that Bove crudely told DOJ subordinates to ignore court orders against Trump’s arbitrary deportations. Bove has denied that claim.

Former DOJ prosecutors described Bove as being Trump’s “hatchet man” in the department, and said he helped purge officials deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump, as well as those who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. 

They said he was also the lead in scuttling the DOJ’s bribery prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams as part of a political quid pro quo.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a key vote on the panel, approved of Bove despite vowing to reject nominees that downplay the seriousness of the Jan. 6 attack.

In a letter ousting several top FBI officials earlier this year, Bove claimed that the DOJ must clean house because the bureau had “actively participated in what President Trump appropriately described as ‘a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated on the American people over the last four years’ with respect to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Republicans on the committee advanced Bove’s nomination over the objections of dozens of former federal and state judges.

In a recent letter, the judges said Bove’s “egregious record of mistreating law enforcement officers, abusing power, and disregarding the law itself disqualifies him for this position.”

Over 900 former DOJ prosecutors in a separate letter also urged the committee to reject Bove’s nomination.

“It is intolerable to us that anyone who disgraces the Justice Department would be promoted to one of the highest courts in the land, as it should be intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice,” the prosecutors wrote.