Senate confirms Emil Bove to Third Circuit, as Dems fail to thwart Trump pick
Booker was among Bove's chief antagonists, with New Jersey being among the states from where the newly-confirmed judge would hear appeals — along with Delaware, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands.
Trump has long taken pride in his selections for the federal judiciary, of which there were hundreds during his first term, and he has also indicated he expects from his judges, in turn, a degree of loyalty. That pressure has only become more acute during Trump's second term, as he has taken to targeting federal judges who have presented obstacles to his administration's agenda.
In plenty of ways, Bove fits the mold of Trump judicial nominees. But Bove's allegiance to Trump goes deeper than those of Trump's previous judicial picks. Before joining the DOJ as a top agency official, Bove represented Trump in criminal probes around the retention of classified documents and efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
The cases were ultimately dismissed after Trump's 2024 electoral victory, and not long after, some of his onetime attorneys, including Bove, joined the upper ranks of his administration. Todd Blanche, who worked with Bove on those cases, is now deputy attorney general.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a brief interview last week he had urged his Democratic colleagues to make the case, as a party on the Senate floor, to the American people that Bove was unfit for the lifetime appointment due to his record and his loyalty to Trump.
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