More than 900 former Justice Department attorneys are urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject the nomination of Emil Bove for a lifetime judicial appointment.
Bove, who previously served on President Trump’s criminal defense team, is now in the No. 3 role at the Department of Justice (DOJ) and has been nominated for a judgeship on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
The extraordinary outpouring came from attorneys from the Kennedy administration to the current Trump administration who pinpointed Bove as a key figure behind numerous firings and policy shifts, calling him a “leader in this assault” on the Justice Department.
“Emil Bove has been an architect and enforcer of many of the attacks on DOJ and its employees,” said Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, which organized the letter.
“His nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals sent shockwaves across DOJ’s workforce, and should alarm all Americans concerned about the Department’s future and the survival of the rule of law.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider Bove’s nomination Thursday, as well as that of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to serve as a U.S. Attorney.
The letter runs through a string of recent controversies in which Bove has played a role. He was central in pushing the dismissal of the bribery charges brought against New York Mayor Eric Adams, prompting a wave of resignations from members of the department’s Public Integrity Section. He was behind terminations of prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases and a request to turn over a list of FBI agents who investigated riot cases.
It also focuses on recent allegations from a DOJ whistleblower who said Bove told top department officials they may need to consider saying “f— you” to judges who might block the administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to send migrants to Salvadoran prison.
Bove has said he couldn’t recall whether he used the expletive, but told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing 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 states.
Bove’s nomination looks poised to proceed, as Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), the only Republican on the panel to previously oppose a Trump nominee, has said he would follow the staff recommendation.
“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 attorneys 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.”
