Senate Confirms Emil Bove To 3rd Circuit Judgeship

In a 50-49 vote, the U.S. Senate voted on Tuesday evening to confirm Trump nominee Emil Bove as a judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in voting against Bove’s nomination.

Bove’s nomination was advanced to the full Senate by the Senate Judiciary Committee in a party-line vote on July 17. The upper chamber subsequently voted to invoke cloture on his nomination last Thursday, with Collins and Murkowski joining Democrats in opposition.

Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., did not partake in last week’s cloture vote.

Bove’s confirmation comes after weeks of attacks from Democrats and their media allies, who have collectively sought to bully weak-kneed GOP senators into tanking the senior Justice Department official’s nomination to the bench.

To accomplish this goal, these left-wing actors weaponized multiple whistleblower complaints, which alleged wrongdoing by Bove during his time at the DOJ.

One of the identified whistleblowers is a former Bove underling, Erez Reuveni, who came forward with claims that Bove advocated for ignoring federal court orders related to the administration’s deportation efforts. Documents previously reported by The Federalist, however, indicate Reuveni’s assertions aren’t true.

During his late June confirmation hearing, Bove emphatically rejected Reuveni’s claims and blasted the media’s characterization of the type of judge he would be if confirmed by the Senate.

“I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right,” Bove said. “I’m not afraid to make difficult decisions. I understand that some of those decisions have generated controversy. … I want to be clear about one thing up front: There is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media. I am not anybody’s henchman. I’m not an enforcer. I’m a lawyer from a small town who never expected to be in an arena like this.”

Additional records obtained by The Federalist show that Reuveni — who was suspended and fired from the DOJ following his alleged failure to advocate on behalf of the administration in court — advised his DOJ colleagues on how to “sway” litigation strategy in a case involving the deportation of Venezuelan gang members in a way he found to be personally favorable.

Legacy media have also partaken in Democrat-led efforts to tank Bove’s nomination.

On Monday, The Washington Post ran a last-minute hit piece against Bove containing vague allegations from an anonymous whistleblower that Bove “misled” lawmakers on a certain DOJ case during his Senate testimony. The hatchet job was later updated to note that the whistleblower’s supposed evidence against Bove pertains to his “handling of the dismissal of public corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.”

Much like the original, however, the updated version of the piece does not specify how Bove allegedly “misled” lawmakers about the issue or what the evidence is proving such a claim.

Following the WaPo hit piece, Democrat Senators leveraged smears against Bove to urge an 11th-hour probe from the DOJ acting inspector general, Politico reported. According to NBC, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, dismissed the complaints raised by the third whistleblower as ‘another breathless accusation’” just “hours before the vote.”

“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, according to the outlet.