Senate panel to vote on former Trump attorney Bove's judicial nomination, amid DOJ lawyer opposition

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Thursday on former Trump attorney Emil Bove's nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, amid 900 former and current Department of Justice lawyers urging lawmakers to reject the nomination.

The nomination of Bove, who is the U.S. principal associate deputy attorney general, to the judgeship caused backlash from DOJ attorneys who served from the Kennedy administration to the current Trump administration, The Hill news outlet reported Wednesday. The lawyers wrote in a letter to the Senate committee that Bove is a “leader in this assault” on the DOJ as he has been behind numerous firings and policy shifts.

“Emil Bove has been an architect and enforcer of many of the attacks on DOJ and its employees,” Stacey Young, founder and executive director of Justice Connection, the nonprofit that organized the letter. “His nomination to the Third Circuit ... should alarm all Americans concerned about the Department’s future and the survival of the rule of law.”

The letter also notes Bove pushed for the dismissal of the bribery charges brought against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, which resulted in DOJ attorneys resigning from the Public Integrity Section. In addition, the letter states Bove was behind the firing of federal prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Riot cases and requested a list of FBI agents who investigated such cases.

According to the letter, a DOJ whistleblower recently alleged that Bove told DOJ officials that they may need to consider saying “f‑ck you” to judges who might block the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to send migrants to a prison in El Salvador.

Bove said during his Senate confirmation hearing that he couldn't remember using the expletive, but that he “certainly conveyed the importance of the upcoming operation.”

“Each one of the undersigned would testify, under oath, that we have never — and would never — tell a Justice Department attorney to consider defying a court order. Moreover, the Justice Department’s later defiance of judicial mandates in the cases where Mr. Bove previewed doing so further suggests that disregarding court orders was Mr. Bove’s intent all along,” the letter reads.

Bove's nomination appears to be on track to move forward. If the committee recommends the nominations, a full Sentate vote in favor historically follows.

“We ask that before the Judiciary Committee votes on this nomination, you rigorously examine the actions Mr. Bove has taken at DOJ and the effects they’ve had on the Department’s integrity, employees, and mission-critical work,” the lawyers wrote. 

“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 Senate Judiciary Committee will also consider the nomination of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to serve as a U.S. attorney on Thursday.