The confirmation reflects Trump’s aggressive judicial strategy in his second term, building on the recent confirmation of Whitney Hermandorfer to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month to replace an Obama-era appointee — further tilting the court that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee to the right.

Bove’s confirmation, however, was far more contentious.

Just hours before the vote, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to the Justice Department’s acting inspector general, William Blier, urging an investigation into allegations that Bove once suggested ignoring court orders related to immigration enforcement. The two Democratic senators said it was “imperative” that the Senate fully examine the whistleblower disclosures before taking final action.

“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,” the letter stated.

A third whistleblower reportedly emerged Tuesday ahead of the vote, meeting with staff for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), whose spokesperson dismissed the late allegations as “a bad faith attempt to sink a nominee.”

In a speech on the Senate floor, Grassley stated how his team ran into challenges while attempting to review the three whistleblower disclosures in good faith, saying “any assertion that I or my staff was uninterested in the evidence is false.”

Bove, who served as Trump’s defense attorney during his criminal cases last year, has denied any wrongdoing previously under oath during his nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said he never instructed attorneys within the DOJ to defy federal court orders.

“I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Bove told the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added, “I don’t think there’s any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed yesterday calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge.”

The initial complaint against him was filed in June by former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni, with the backing of the Government Accountability Project, a liberal-aligned organization that has received millions in funding from George Soros-backed Open Society Foundations and the left-of-center Fund for Constitutional Government, respectively.

Legal scholars aligned with Trump called the attacks on Bove politically motivated.

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ADVANCES FIVE TRUMP JUDICIAL PICKS AS DEMOCRATS STAGE WALKOUT

“Judicial fortitude is a hallmark of a Trump judicial nominee, and I have seen hundreds of judicial nominees — his performance at his confirmation hearing displayed that he has fortitude in spades,” said Robert Luther III, a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University and former White House associate counsel. “He has undergone abuse beyond the measure of what any person should have to endure to secure a position in public service.”

Bove will now take a lifetime seat on the 3rd Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — replacing Judge Julio Fuentes, a Clinton appointee who assumed senior status.