Republicans confirm former Trump lawyer Emil Bove to lifetime appeals court perch

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Emil Bove as a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, granting a lifetime appointment to President Donald Trump‘s former personal lawyer.

He was confirmed 50-49, with only Republican votes, as they set aside allegations from three whistleblowers about the conduct of Bove, a Justice Department official, which include accusations that he flouted laws and Justice Department procedures.

Just two Republicans voted with Democrats against the nomination: Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Susan Collins, of Maine.

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Hours before the vote, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, dismissed the complaints raised by the third whistleblower as “another breathless accusation,” saying Bove denied the allegations under oath.

“I support the nomination of Mr. Bove. He has a strong legal background and has served this country honorably. I believe he will be diligent, capable and a fair jurist,” Grassley said.

Grassley accused Democrats of using “vicious rhetoric, unfair accusation and abuse directed at Mr. Bove,” saying their tactics to thwart the nomination “crossed the line.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed Bove as being “as far from the mainstream as any judicial nominee we have considered in this chamber.”

“He is a Trumpian henchman — the extreme of the extreme of the extreme. He is openly hostile to the rule of law. He is fundamentally opposed to democratic norms. He lacks the temperament to serve as a jurist,” Schumer recently said on the Senate floor. “And above all, Mr. Bove is religiously obedient to Donald Trump.”

“Shame on you,” Schumer told Republicans after the vote. “This is a dark, dark day.”

An initial Justice Department whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, told Congress via his lawyers that Bove told subordinates that they might have to ignore court orders blocking Trump’s deportation efforts, comments that concerned Reuveni. It allegedly occurred the day before the administration carried out deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.

That allegation, which a second whistleblower echoed, relayed a meeting on March 14 at which Bove warned that planned deportations could be blocked by a court order, with Reuveni’s attorneys writing in the disclosure that “Bove stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f— you’ and ignore any such court order.”

Reuveni’s allegations were critical for Murkowski.

“I don’t think that somebody who has counseled other attorneys that you should ignore the law, you should reject the law — I don’t think that that individual should be placed in a lifetime seat on the bench,” Murkowski told NBC News.

A third whistleblower, who approached senators with a separate allegation against Bove more recently, had provided evidence suggesting Bove misled senators during his confirmation hearing in discussing his handling of the Justice Department’s dismissal of the case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The specific details of how Bove is alleged to have misled senators have not been publicly disclosed, and the connection to Adams’ case was first reported by The Washington Post.

Grassley’s staff met with attorneys for the third whistleblower, but Grassley said the allegations would not delay Bove’s confirmation vote.

Skepticism for Bove cuts across ideological lines. The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board warned that Bove’s “reputation lately is as a smashmouth partisan who wields the law as a weapon.”

Ahead of the vote, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote a letter asking the Justice Department’s acting inspector general whether it is investigating Bove.

“As the Senate approaches a final vote this week on Mr. Bove’s nomination to serve as United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, it is imperative that Senators exercise their constitutional duty of advice and consent with full knowledge of Mr. Bove’s actions,” Schiff and Booker wrote.

“We therefore request that you clarify for Senators whether your office is undertaking any investigations of or related to Mr. Bove. In the event these whistleblower complaints and other reports have not already prompted investigations by your office, we urge you to undertake a thorough review of these disclosures and allegations,” they added.

Earlier Tuesday, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said he had been approached by whistleblowers who have submitted complaints about Bove’s nomination, adding that he would be “conferring with Chair Grassley” and planned to “follow his lead.”

Tillis, who is retiring from Congress, has been considered a gettable vote for Democrats on some Trump nominees. He said he was frustrated with the late disclosure of the third whistleblower’s claims, comparing it to the late allegations that came out against Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his 2018 confirmation battle to be on the Supreme Court.

He voted to confirm Bove.