Latest news with #Bove
Atlantic
2 days ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
Trump's Deportation Goals Are Unrealistic
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. In March, President Donald Trump was preparing to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to deport noncitizens. This use of the law, which was passed in 1798 and previously used to intern Japanese Americans during World War II, was unprecedented, and Emil Bove III, a top Justice Department official, was concerned that it was illegal. To be clear, Bove wasn't troubled that the administration might be breaking the law; rather, according to a new whistleblower complaint, he was concerned that the courts might try to block removals. In that case, 'DOJ would need to consider telling the courts 'fuck you' and ignore any such court order,' Bove said, according to the document. The complaint was made by Erez Reuveni, a fired DOJ lawyer, and first reported by The New York Times this week. The administration says that his allegations are falsehoods from a disgruntled former employee, but this is difficult to credit. A career lawyer, he was promoted by the Trump DOJ but says he was fired after he acknowledged in court that the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia was an administrative error and refused to accuse him of being a terrorist. The complaint details Reuveni's 'attempts over the course of three weeks and affecting three separate cases to secure the government's compliance with court orders, and his resistance to the internal efforts of DOJ and White House leadership to defy them.' It also suggests that Reuveni has emails and texts to back up many of his claims. A top Justice Department official allegedly conspiring to defy court orders would be very dangerous; what makes it darkly amusing, too, is that senators are this week considering Bove's nomination to the federal bench that, according to Reuveni, he wanted to ignore. This led to a sharp exchange in a committee hearing yesterday between Bove and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, two veteran federal prosecutors, in which Bove repeatedly insisted that he did not 'recall' making the comments that Reuveni alleged. 'Did you say anything of that kind in the meeting?' Schiff asked. 'Senator, I have no recollection of saying anything of that kind,' Bove said. 'Wouldn't you recall, Mr. Bove, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers maybe they should consider telling the court, 'Fuck you'?' Schiff replied. 'It seems to me that would be something you'd remember—unless that's the kind of thing you say frequently.' Because no Republicans have yet come out against Bove's nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, he's likely to win confirmation. (By way of reminder, Bove got here by serving as one of Trump's personal lawyers in some of his many criminal cases.) This presents the grim parlor question of whether it's better to have Bove in a lifetime appointment on the bench, where his opinions can be appealed, or at the Justice Department, where he's reportedly been a one-man wrecking crew. The allegations against Bove are what my former colleague James Fallows took to describing during the first Trump administration as shocking but not surprising. Trump himself has said repeatedly that he will abide by court orders, but his deputies have been less circumspect, especially Vice President J. D. Vance, who is a lawyer, and the former DOGE leader and current Trump frenemy Elon Musk. Outside observers, including me, have fretted over what will happen if the White House actually crosses the rubicon of defiance. This is arguably beside the point. Even though the Trump administration continues to deny that it has refused to obey court orders, the reality is that it has already done so. Judge James Boasberg said in April that he'd concluded that probable cause existed to find the administration in contempt of court for removing certain Venezuelan immigrants. (An appeals court has temporarily stayed proceedings on the contempt charge.) In another instance, last month, the administration deported a Salvadoran man despite a court order forbidding it, then blamed 'a confluence of administrative errors.' (These errors seem to be a consistent issue for this presidency!) The administration also insisted in a court filing that Abrego Garcia simply could not be returned as ordered, because the United States 'does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.' The DOJ proved that false not long afterward, when it brought Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. to face charges. In a bizarre move this week, the administration sued every federal judge in Maryland—an attempt to evade an order that bans the government from immediately deporting migrants who are challenging their removal. The fights with courts are ironic, because although Trump has fared poorly in lower courts, the Supreme Court has been willing to let him expand his powers once cases reach it. As Reuters reported earlier this month, the justices, using what's known as the ' shadow docket,' have repeatedly granted emergency requests to proceed, pending full consideration. This week, the Court temporarily lifted an order preventing the executive branch from quickly deporting migrants to countries to which they have no ties. The White House has been seeking to send people—including Laotian, Vietnamese, and Filipino nationals—to extremely perilous countries such as Libya and South Sudan. This would be callous and morally abhorrent under any circumstances, but given the notable cases of the Trump administration deporting people who are legally protected, including Abrego Garcia, it is especially terrifying. The desperation to sidestep court restrictions on deportations is evidence of the shortcomings of the White House's plans. Trump aims to remove 1 million people this year, but as my colleague Nick Miroff reported yesterday, ICE statistics show that the agency has carried out only about 125,000 deportations since Trump took office, with roughly half the year gone. But as Reuveni's story suggests, in this administration, to be honest is to risk being fired. Attacking the courts is much easier than admitting that the president's signature promise is unrealistic. Here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Today's News The Senate parliamentarian advised rejecting some Medicaid changes that would offset the costs of other key policies in President Donald Trump's tax bill. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran's strike on a U.S. base in Qatar was a 'slap to America's face'; he also warned against further U.S. attacks on Iran. A new Supreme Court decision allows states to cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Dispatches Time-Travel Thursdays: Isabel Fattal on how sleeping less became an American value. Evening Read The Blockbuster That Captured a Growing American Rift By Tyler Austin Harper In a cramped, $50-a-month room above a New Jersey furnace-supply company, Peter Benchley set to work on what he once said, half-jokingly, might be 'a Ulysses for the 1970s.' A novel resulted from these efforts, one Benchley considered titling The Edge of Gloom or Infinite Evil before deciding on the less dramatic but more fitting Jaws. Its plot is exquisite in its simplicity. A shark menaces Amity, a fictional, gentrifying East Coast fishing village. Chaos ensues: People are eaten … In June 1975, 50 years ago this month, the movie version of Jaws was released in theaters and became the first-ever summer blockbuster. Though the film retains Benchley's basic storyline—shark eats people; shark dies a bloody death—it turns the book's politics upside down. Watch. Thank God for The Bear. Season 4 of the show (streaming on Hulu) is exactly what it—and we—needed, Sophie Gilbert writes. Lean on me. In everyday life, many people are reluctant to ask for and offer help. But milestones such as weddings lower the barriers to relying on other people, Julie Beck writes. Play our daily crossword.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
'I stand for what I believe': Trump's judicial nominee denies advising lawyers to ignore court orders; amid whistleblower complaint
US President Donald Trump's nominated federal court Judge on Wednesday had denied that he told the justice department attorneys to ignore court orders. Emil Bove told the Senate Judiciary committee that he has been inaccurately portrayed as Trump's 'henchman' and 'enforcer' at the department and added that he is someone who takes a stand for what he believes is right, AP reported. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,' Bove told the 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 controversy started after a whistleblower filed a complaint against him dying thy Bove ran a campaign to defy judges to carry out President Trump's deportation plans. Bove used to be Trump's lawyer and has been involved in some very controversial since Trump returned to the White House. That includes dropping a corruption case against New York City's Mayor, Eric Adams. Bove also criticized the FBI for not sharing the names of agents who worked on the Capitol riot investigation and fired some of the prosecutors working on the January 6 cases. 'I am someone who tries to stand up for what I believe is right,' Bove said. Former Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, who was fired in April after conceding in court that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who had been living in Maryland, said that there was a meeting in march about Trump's plan for a law to deport people. According to Reuveni, Bove said that a judge might try to stop the deportations. He also said that Bove used a dirty word and said the Justice Department need not listen to the judge's order and do the deportations anyway. Bove denied by saying that he doesn't remember.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
DoJ leader suggested defying courts over deportations, whistleblower says
Emil Bove, the Department of Justice's principal associate deputy attorney general, who Donald Trump nominated for the US court of appeals for the third circuit, reportedly said the department 'would need to consider telling the courts 'fuck you'' when it came to orders blocking the deportation of undocumented people. Former attorney at the justice department, Erez Reuveni, claimed Bove said the agency should violate court orders. In a whistleblower letter to members of Congress first obtained by the New York Times, Reuveni painted the scene of a lawless justice department willingly to defy the courts and fire the people who stood in their way. Related: 'Clouded in mystery': how Ice became a rogue agency that does Trump's bidding 'Mr. Reuveni was stunned by Bove's statement because, to Mr. Reuveni's knowledge, no one in DOJ leadership - in any Administration – had ever suggested the Department of Justice could blatantly ignore court orders, especially with a 'fuck you,'' says the letter, written by his lawyers at the Government Accountability Project. The comments came in the context of Trump invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport people on removal flights in mid-March, the letter contends, after Bove 'stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what'. At the time of Bove's alleged comments, Reuveni, who was in the meeting, said he was in disbelief. But in the three weeks that followed, his disbelief became 'a relic of a different time' as the department undermined the courts and rule of law. In three separate cases Reuveni was involved in, he found 'internal efforts of DOJ and White House leadership to defy (court orders) through lack of candor, deliberate delay and disinformation'. Reuveni was a career attorney who had served across multiple administrations for 15 years in the department, including the first Trump administration. Reuveni says he directly witnessed and reported to his superiors a host of misconduct, including 'DOJ officials undermining the rule of law by ignoring court orders; DOJ officials presenting 'legal' arguments with no basis in law; high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials misrepresenting facts presented before courts; and DOJ officials directing Mr. Reuveni to misrepresent facts in one of these cases in violation of legal and ethical duties as an officer of the court'. Reuveni had notified the court in the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, the Maryland man erroneously deported to El Salvador who has since returned to the US, that Ábrego García's deportation had been a 'mistake'. He said he refused his superiors' directive to file a brief to the court that would have misrepresented the facts of the case. He was subsequently put on administrative leave and then terminated on 11 April. Trump administration officials have said Reuveni didn't 'vigorously' or 'zealously' defend his client, the United States. 'Discouraging clients from engaging in illegal conduct is an important part of the role of lawyer,' the whistleblower letter says. 'Mr. Reuveni tried to do so and was thwarted, threatened, fired, and publicly disparaged for both doing his job and telling the truth to the court.' Bove is set for a confirmation hearing on his judicial nomination before the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, where the whistleblower's claims are sure to enter into questioning. The White House and justice department have denied Reuveni's claims, according to the New York Times. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general and Bove's boss, called Reuveni's accounts 'falsehoods purportedly made by a disgruntled former employee and then leaked to the press in violation of ethical obligations' and questioned the timing of its release ahead of Bove's confirmation hearing.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
What this Trump nominee says about his potential SCOTUS picks
President Donald Trump's first term was marked by a contentious and ultimately wildly successful campaign to overhaul the federal judiciary — one that dominated the Senate floor calendar for nearly four years straight and occasionally exploded in partisan fury. Now, with Trump dealing with unpredictable foreign crises and a sprawling domestic policy megabill, judge nominations have been almost an afterthought in the White House and on Capitol Hill. That changed Wednesday, when Emil Bove — Trump's former personal lawyer, now a top Justice Department official — appeared for the Senate Judiciary Committee for a fiery hearing on his nomination to an appeals court judgeship. The decision to nominate Bove, and the apparent willingness of Republican senators to fall in line behind him, suggests Trump is embracing a new kind of judicial pick as he continues to face significant resistance to his governing decisions in the federal courts. Bove, 44, faced intense questioning from panel Democrats who pressed on his loyalty to the president as reflected not only in his private representation of Trump but his actions as principal associate deputy attorney general. Those include dismissing prosecutors tied to cases involving the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, ending the corruption prosecution of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and pursuing the administration's deportation agenda. 'Bove has led the effort to weaponize the Department of Justice against the president's enemies,' said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Judiciary Democrat. 'Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this president, he's been rewarded with a lifetime nomination.' The tenor of Wednesday's hearing suggested that there is no detente in sight in the escalating partisan fight over federal judges, which reached a crescendo in 2018 with the searing confirmation battle over Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The only check on the rancor might be the fact that there are relatively few judicial vacancies for Trump to fill at the moment. According to the U.S. court system, there are just about 50 across the country, the vast majority of which are on district courts. The president's first slate of judicial nominees, including a pick for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, is poised to have a vote Thursday before the Judiciary Committee. There are, however, three Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices 70 or over who are considered possible candidates for retirement over the next three-and-a-half years. Trump's willingness to nominate Bove — and to weather a hardball confirmation fight when a lesser-known nominee might have had an easier time — suggests he won't hesitate to tap another loyalist when a high-court slot opens up. With a potential lifetime appointment to the 3rd Circuit, with jurisdiction over appeals from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands, Bove himself could emerge as a SCOTUS short-list candidate if confirmed. The questioning Wednesday appeared to underscore the high stakes. Democrats questioned Bove about the pardons of Jan. 6 convicts and his role in the removal of the line prosecutors who sent them to jail. The issue was effective in sinking one prior Trump nominee: his initial pick for U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a Judiciary member up for next year, effectively tanked his chances by objecting to Martin's comments minimizing the Capitol riot. (Tillis said Wednesday he has not yet taken a position on Bove's nomination. 'Honestly I haven't discussed it with my staff yet,' he said.) Democrats also seized on the Justice Department's decision to abandon the Adams prosecution — a controversial order from Bove himself that triggered the resignation of at least 6 prosecutors in New York and Washington. In her resignation letter, then-acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Danielle Sassoon accused Bove of engaging in a corrupt deal to drop the case in exchange for the Democratic mayor's support of Trump's immigration policies. Asked during the hearing to swear to his 'higher being' that he didn't make a 'political deal' with Adams, Bove replied: 'I swear to my higher being and on every bone in my body.' But Bove also said that he ordered the case dismissed based on 'policy considerations,' explaining that 'the prosecution placed an inordinate burden on the mayor's ability to protect the city and to campaign in an ongoing election cycle.' Using that logic, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said, 'there would be two classes of justice – one for people who are in office and one for everyone else.' Bove also denied allegations from a former DOJ official that he suggested defying court orders for the administration's deportation agenda. 'I am not anybody's henchman,' Bove told senators. 'I am not an enforcer. I am a lawyer from a small town who never expected to be in an arena like this.' Republicans rallied to Bove's defense, with the tone set early in the hearing by Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who noted that the nominee had seen an 'intense opposition campaign' and extolled his credentials as a former prosecutor. Democrats, on the other hand, cast the fight over Bove's nomination as one of grave significance for the rule of law, echoing a familiar fight from Trump's first term. Indeed, federal judges appointed by presidents of both parties have been some of the most effective checks on Trump's power early in his second term — much to the president's frustration. Yet Democrats have little power to stop Trump's nominees so long as Republican senators stick together. With a 53-vote Senate majority, GOP leaders can lose several votes and still confirm Trump's picks with Vice President JD Vance as a tie-breaker. Democrats also lack the benefit of the 'blue slip' policy that gives home-state senators effective veto power over court nominees. Republicans abandoned the practice for circuit judges during Trump's first term, one of the procedural changes in the Senate that allowed the party to confirm hundreds of judicial nominees during those four years. Democrats maintained the practice after they won control of the Senate and Joe Biden won the presidency. Among those attending Wednesday's hearing were Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — Bove's supervisors at the Justice Department. Blanche and Bove worked together as Trump's criminal defense attorneys, including during last year's criminal trial that resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts of business fraud. Bondi defended Trump during his first impeachment trial. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) contended that Bondi and Blanche attended for the sole purpose of 'whip[ping] the Republicans into shape, to make sure that they toe the line.' 'They were there to send a message to Republicans: We are watching you,' Blumenthal said during a news conference after Bove's testimony. 'They were there to watch members of this committee, the Republicans, whom they expect simply to fall into line.' Bove wasn't the only Trump nominee answering questions about his loyalty to the president Wednesday. Edward L. Artau, one of four district court nominees to also appear before Senate Judiciary members, was asked by Blumenthal why he did not recuse himself from a case involving Trump after he began lobbying for a federal judgeship. POLITICO previously reported that Artau, a state judge, was lobbying for a seat on the federal bench while he sat on a three-judge panel in Trump's defamation case against the board of the Pulitzer Prizes. Asked by Blumenthal why he did not recuse himself, Artau maintained that he abided by the relevant judicial conduct rule. He said he did not know he was under consideration from the White House at the time he wrote the opinion. 'Had the timing been differently, then I may have handled it differently,' Artau said. Calen Razor contributed to this report.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Trump's appeals court nominee responds to allegation he suggested DOJ say ‘f— you' to courts: ‘I'm not anybody's henchman'
Justice Department official Emil Bove pushed back Wednesday against claims that he's President Trump's 'henchman' or 'enforcer' during a contentious Senate hearing on his nomination to serve a lifetime appointment on a federal appeals court. Bove, who served as Trump's personal lawyer during his criminal cases last year, has faced criticism from Democrats over his role in the dismissal of federal prosecutors who worked on Capitol riot cases; request for corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams to be dropped; and allegations from a whistleblower that he suggested administration officials should defy court orders. 'I respect this process, and I'm here today to address some of your questions about those decisions, but I want to be clear about one thing up front, there is a wildly inaccurate caricature of me in the mainstream media,' Bove said in his testimony. Advertisement '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,' the senior DOJ official added. 3 Bove was nominated by Trump to serve as a judge on the third circuit appeals court earlier this year. Getty Images One day before Bove's confirmation hearing for the judicial post on the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees district courts in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fired former DOJ official Erez Reuveni alleged that the nominee told federal prosecutors that the Trump administration may not abide by court orders that would impede its mass deportation plans. Advertisement Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) brought up the whistleblower complaint during his questioning, and repeatedly used the expletive Reuveni claims Bove used during a March 14 meeting discussing Trump's yet-to-be signed proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act. 'In the complaint, it says, 'Bove stated the DOJ would need to consider telling the courts, f— you and ignoring any such court order.' Did you say anything of that kind in the meeting?' Schiff asked the judicial nominee. Bove responded: 'Senator, I have no recollection of saying anything of that kind.' 'Wouldn't you recall, Mr. Bove, if you said or suggested during a meeting with Justice Department lawyers that maybe they should consider telling the court 'f— you'? It seems to me that would be something you'd remember … Unless that's the kind of thing you say frequently,' Schiff pressed. Advertisement 'Well, I've certainly said things encouraging litigators at the department to fight hard for valid positions that we have to take in defense of our clients,' Bove shot back. 3 Bove served as Trump's defense team during his criminal cases last year. Getty Images 3 A whistleblower has accused Bove of informing DOJ officials that they may have to defy court orders regarding the use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants. via REUTERS 'Have you frequently suggested that they say, 'f— you' and ignore court orders? Is that also something you frequently do so that you might not remember doing it on this occasion?' the senator continued. Advertisement Bove asserted that he 'did not suggest that there would be any need to consider, ignoring court orders,' noting that during the meeting Reuveni describes in his complaint, 'There were no court orders to discuss.' 'Well, did you suggest telling the courts 'f— you' in any manner?' Schiff responded. Bove answered: 'I don't recall.'
