Trump's Plans to Put Emil Bove on the Supreme Court - NYT Opinion

[In It to Win It]

NYT - Gift Link

The nomination of Emil Bove III to a federal appeals court suggests that President Trump has a new prototype and a new agenda when it comes to the law: Out with the eggheads and in with the street fighters. His first-term judicial appointments transformed constitutional law on a range of subjects, like abortion and affirmative action. In his first term, he served the conservative movement; this time, the movement must serve him.

The president has staffed the top leadership of the Justice Department with individuals whose chief qualification appears to be that they represented Mr. Trump as private lawyers. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, was one of Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers at his first impeachment trial. (Previously, she was the attorney general of Florida.) Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, represented Mr. Trump at his criminal trial in Manhattan. D. John Sauer, the solicitor general, was the lead counsel for Mr. Trump at the Supreme Court when he challenged his prosecution in Trump v. United States. Mr. Bove, who is now Mr. Blanche’s principal deputy in the Justice Department, was his partner in the defense of Mr. Trump in Manhattan. Just as Mr. Trump has put his onetime advocates at the pinnacle of American law enforcement, the nomination of Mr. Bove signals the president’s desire to embed his loyalists in the judicial branch.

With a devoted executive branch and a compliant Congress, Mr. Trump has faced real resistance only from the judiciary, and the nomination of Mr. Bove marks the beginning of his counterattack. His prominence at the Justice Department raises the question of why the president would sideline Mr. Bove to fill a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, an important lifetime position reviewing federal cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware but one well removed from carrying out the Trump agenda from day to day.

The answer, which seemed apparent if unspoken at Mr. Bove’s confirmation hearing last month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, is that the president is grooming Mr. Bove for bigger things — possibly a seat on the Supreme Court.

[CurtEastPoint]

1. That smarmy fucker is FORTY-FOUR?

[pfitz59]

2. Evil, pure evil

Beholden to 'The One'.. Enemy of 'The Many'.

[Chasstev365]

3. ALL GOP SENATORS WILL BE ON BOARD!

[FBaggins]

4. Tillis has indicated that he intends to be

That probably seals the deal.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Maddow Blog-Republicans shrug off laundry list of scandals, advance Emil Bove's judicial nomination

Bove is arguably the single-most controversial circuit court nominee in modern American history. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee didn’t care.

By some measures, Emil Bove, a former Trump defense attorney, is one of the most controversial circuit court nominees in modern American history, opposed by several dozen former judges and 900+ former DOJ lawyers.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee didn’t care.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-17T15:09:18.340Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/emil-bove-trump-judge-nomination-senate-republicans-rcna218833

That didn’t happen. NBC News reported:

A spokesperson for Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley says that Bove’s nomination had been reported out of committee to the full Senate, even though Democrats on the committee walked out in protest of the lack of debate and the refusal to hold a vote on whether to hold a hearing with a whistleblower before they voted.

Shortly before the vote, the panel's Democratic members walked out of the hearing room in protest, with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey describing the process as "insane."
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:h7qtoo7nxqxarrsijohjhbw4/post/3lu6bvfc3oc2c

Link to tweet

In fact, after the committee's Republicans voted in support of Bove, members of the Democratic minority, led by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, suggested the issue of whether Bove was actually reported out was still an open question and may be referred to the Senate parliamentarian because, as Democrats argued, Republicans broke procedural rules.......

Just as importantly, if not more so, Erez Reuveni, a 15-year veteran Justice Department prosecutor, recently came forward as a whistleblower to tell senators that Bove repeatedly endorsed ignoring court orders and deliberately misleading judges. In a case involving the Alien Enemies Act and the administration’s alleged violation of a court order regarding deportation flights, Reuveni also described a meeting during which Bove “stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f--- you’ and ignore any such court order.”.....

Bove’s nomination now advances to the Senate floor for confirmation. To defeat him, four GOP senators would have to break ranks with the party, which seems unlikely. Watch this space.

trump is looking to appoint Bove to the SCOTUS when either Alito or Thomas retires