Group hits federal judge with complaint for attending Trump rally
An activist group called Fix the Court, known for its court reform advocacy and left-leaning ties, has filed a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit judge Emil Bove. The complaint centers on bove’s attendance at a speech by former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, which sparked concerns about judicial ethics due to the political nature of the event. Bove, a Trump appointee and former top Justice Department official, claimed he attended as a private citizen. Fix the Court argues that Bove violated judicial conduct codes by appearing at a highly political rally and not distancing himself from the event. The White House dismissed criticism of Bove’s attendance as “pearl-clutching,” asserting his rights as a citizen.Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers expressed disappointment in Bove’s judgment, while Republican officials emphasized the event’s official status and questioned the focus on Bove amid other judicial controversies.
Activist group hits federal judge with judicial misconduct complaint for attending Trump rally
Fix the Court, a self-proclaimed nonpartisan court reform advocacy group with left-wing ties, filed a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove for attending President Donald Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
As Trump commenced his affordability-focused tour in Pennsylvania, Bove, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, attended the president’s speech in the Poconos. The Trump-appointed judge, who served as principal associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice before his appointment, raised ethics concerns among some Democratic lawmakers with his appearance at the rally.
Bove told MS NOW’s Vaughn Hillyard that he attended the speech as a private citizen: “Just here as a citizen coming to watch the president speak.”
Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, filed a judicial misconduct complaint against Bove on Wednesday over his attendance at the Trump event. Fix the Court was originally founded as a project of New Venture Fund, which is managed by the left-wing dark money group Arabella Advisers.
“It should have been obvious to Judge Bove, either at the start of the rally or fairly close to it, that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of,” Roth wrote in the complaint.
When asked for comment on Fix the Court’s complaint, the White House referred the Washington Examiner to communications director Steven Cheung’s statement, which blasted a Politico reporter’s tweet that said it was “highly unusual” for Bove to attend the event as “pearl-clutching.”
“No it’s not. Stop your pearl-clutching. An American citizen is at an event listening to the President of the United States speak. In your world, you’d rather give rights to illegal criminals over Americans,” Cheung said.
Roth pointed to the code of conduct for judges in his complaint, specifically Canon 2 and Canon 5.
“Canon 2 states that a judge ‘should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities.’ Attending a Trump event — and not leaving when it became clear that the speech was, in fact, a partisan rally — violates this canon,” Roth wrote. “Canon 5 states that a judge ‘should refrain from political activity.’ Last night’s event in Pennsylvania was barely distinguishable (i.e., only temporally) from a Trump rally in 2020 or 2024, both of which were obvious political activities.”
A spokeswoman for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Clare Slattery, told Bloomberg Law that Trump’s speech “was an official White House event highlighting kitchen table issues that impact all Americans.”
“Where’s the outrage over federal judges who’ve potentially violated the judicial Code of Conduct by trashing their own branch of government in recent statements to the press?” Slattery told Bloomberg. Grassley and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) have raised code of conduct concerns about federal judges who they say have anonymously made “inflammatory comments” about the Supreme Court.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) told the Courthouse News Service that he hoped Bove would show “better judgment.”
“Mr. Bove is a loyalist to President Trump, but I hoped that after he received this appointment to the federal bench at the second-highest court in the land, he would show better judgment,” Durbin told the outlet.
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