Emil Bove’s nomination to serve as a judge on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is headed to the Senate floor after Democrats walked out of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in protest.
The panel voted Thursday morning with only Republican support to advance Bove’s nomination, as every Democrat abstained from recording a vote either way. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) shouted over the proceedings as the roll was called, imploring colleagues to continue debate and accusing committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) of failing to follow Senate rules.
All Democrats, barring Booker, left the hearing room during the votes to advance Bove and other nominees pending before the committee.
“This lacks decency. It lacks decorum. It shows that you do not want to simply hear from your colleagues,” Booker said. “This is us simply trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we’ve had under this presidential administration.”
Booker shouted through the votes for a number of other judicial nominees, before ultimately following his colleagues out of the room.
Grassley argued the Republican-led committee’s conduct had precedent. He said that, in November 2023, Democrats proceeded with a vote on two judicial nominees put forward by President Joe Biden, despite Republican protests to continue debate.
But Bove, the former criminal defense attorney to President Donald Trump who is now principal associate deputy attorney general, has come under scrutiny after a whistleblower complaint from a former Department of Justice employee alleged that he had suggested defying court orders for the administration’s deportation agenda.
“He has been trailed by a history of complaints, long predating his affiliation with President Trump about his temperament, his poor judgment and lack of candor in front of the court,” said Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin of Illinois. “Think of it: We’re talking about a judge for life.”
Democrats earlier this week asked to have the whistleblower at the center of the allegations against Bove testify before lawmakers before holding a vote to send the nomination to the Senate floor. Grassley rejected the request, saying he had reviewed the materials from the whistleblower and his office had investigated the allegations. He said he found them unconvincing and decided there was no reason to delay Bove’s nomination.
Durbin also questioned Thursday whether Bove was involved in the Justice Department’s decision not to release files in the case against disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who was found dead in his jail cell in 2019. In recent days, Democrats have sought to juxtapose Trump allies’ promises of transparency around the Epstein case with the DOJ’s decision to withhold release of further materials. Their campaign has sought to exploit division between Trump and his MAGA base, which has long championed conspiracies around a cover-up of the Epstein files.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has become the de facto swing vote on the judiciary panel amid his announcement he won’t seek reelection next year, opted to advance Bove’s nomination, despite recently saying he would not support nominees who have supported the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
As a senior Justice Department leader, Bove played a role in the agency’s dismissal of staffers who had worked on cases tied to the Capitol attack during the Biden administration. Tillis, however, fiercely defended his decision to support Bove and emphasized he would not support any nominee who had specifically endorsed violence against Capitol police officers.
“Does anybody really believe that, if I was convinced that Bove had made any statements condoning the violent acts against Capitol police officers, that I’d be voting for him?” Tillis said during Thursday’s committee meeting. “Just ask Ed Martin whether or not that’s a red line.”
Tillis objected to Martin’s nomination to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, citing his defense of Capitol rioters and his comments around the attack. The senator’s decision to oppose Martin on those grounds effectively tanked his confirmation chances, with former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro nominated as Trump’s second choice for the job.
“The fact of the matter is, I can’t find one piece of evidence where he said that the violent acts against police officers were okay or condoned,” Tillis said of Bove. “If you find it, let me know.”
But Democrats also decried Bove’s nomination by pointing to his involvement in the dismissal of corruption charges against Eric Adams, which coincided with the New York City Democratic mayor’s decision to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement activities at the Rikers Island jail. Lawyers at the Justice Department resigned over the episode amid accusations that Adams had entered into a quid pro quo.
The judiciary panel also voted Thursday to proceed on a number of other nominations, including Pirro, who has been serving in that role in an interim capacity.
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