In February 1973, as the Watergate scandal intensified, Richard Nixon nominated L. Patrick Gray to succeed J. Edgar Hoover as the director of the FBI. That proved to be a ridiculously bad idea: Over the course of the confirmation process, senators learned that Gray was up to his ears in the White House scandal, and whatever support he might have had quickly evaporated.

Just two months after Nixon announced Gray’s nomination, he pulled the plug, realizing that senators wouldn’t be able to overlook what they’d learned.

Political scientist Jonathan Bernstein recently noted the Gray anecdote because of its similarities to Emil Bove’s judicial nomination. A scandal-tarnished Republican president? Check. A nominee who’s a little too close to the White House? Check. A confirmation process that made the nominee effectively unconfirmable? Check.

The difference is, 52 years ago, senators from both parties quickly came to terms with the facts that emerged about Gray. In 2025, most Senate Republicans didn’t bother to care about the revelations surrounding Bove.

Indeed, on Tuesday night, the GOP-led Senate voted to confirm Trump's former criminal defense lawyer, 50-49. Only two Republicans voted with the Democratic minority against Bove, who'll soon be sworn in to serve on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

It is a lifetime appointment, suggesting the conservative lawyer will be positioned to serve several decades on the federal appellate bench.

Senators have faced plenty of...

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