WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Emil Bove III, a Trump loyalist whose short tenure in the top ranks of the Justice Department prompted whistleblower complaints and a storm of criticism from agency veterans, to a powerful federal appeals court judgeship.
Bove had sparked outcries at the department by directing or overseeing the firing of dozens of employees and ordering the dismissal of bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams of New York. According to one whistleblower who went public, Bove also told government lawyers that they might ignore court orders in pursuit of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy goals.
Bove has denied being anyone’s enforcer or henchman, but his nomination to a lifetime appointment one rung below the Supreme Court provoked an intense battle in the Senate. His approval to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which encompasses Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, came by a tiny margin, 50-49, with all Democrats and two Republicans, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, opposing him.
Still, the confirmation of Bove provided at least a tacit Senate endorsement of the president’s efforts to bend the justice system to his will. Most Republicans shrugged off concerns that Bove, 44 and a defense lawyer for Trump in his Manhattan criminal trial last year, had undermined the traditional independence of the Justice Department or aided in Trump’s standoffs with the courts.
The day before Bove’s confirmation...
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