As key cogs in our legal system, lawyers must follow the core principle that they engage in zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients but stay within the bounds of the law. Over the first five months of President Donald Trump’s second administration, Emil Bove III, formerly one of Trump’s personal lawyers, has tested the limits of his obligations to the legal system in service of the administration’s policy goals.

Trump has nominated Bove for a lifetime appointment to a federal appeals court. The Senate will now consider Bove’s nomination. Recent allegations that he gave federal prosecutors instructions to ignore court rulings, if true, suggest he isn’t fit to practice law at all, let alone serve on the federal bench.

Bove, in a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, denied that specific allegation. “I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” he said. He also said, “I categorically reject any claim of unethical or inappropriate behavior by me.”

Bove’s main claim to fame is that he served on the legal team that tried but failed to keep Trump from being convicted of 34 felony counts in Manhattan in 2024. When Trump later rewarded Bove a leadership position in the Justice Department, he reportedly gave an order to Justice Department attorneys in the Public Integrity Unit that a pending indictment accusing New York Mayor Eric Adams of bribery and wire fraud be dropped. U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho...

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