Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s nominee for a New Jersey-based judgeship on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing this Wednesday, setting up a clash with Senator Cory Booker and other Senate Democrats over his past controversies and conduct.
When Trump first announced he would nominate Bove last month, he didn’t specify whether Bove would be put forward for an open New Jersey seat on the court or a different vacant seat in Delaware. The nomination submitted to the Senate late last week, however, confirms that Bove would succeed Joseph Greenaway, a New Jerseyan and Barack Obama appointee who retired from the Third Circuit in 2023.
In a sign of Bove’s relatively weak ties to New Jersey, he is listed in his nomination as “Emil J. Bove III, of Pennsylvania,” though his duty station is still expected to be in Newark if he’s confirmed by the Senate. (Bove’s strongest connection to the Garden State is through his old law firm, which is run in part by ex-New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa.)
The confirmation hearing for Bove, a top official in the Justice Department, is expected to be a highly contentious one. As the acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General, Bove directed prosecutors to dismiss corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in February, a move that the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) alleged was part of a quid pro quo in her remarkable resignation letter.
Before joining the current Trump administration, Bove worked for a number of years in the SDNY U.S. Attorney’s office, serving as an assistant U.S. Attorney under three different presidents. In that role, according to a Politico investigation, he repeatedly fought with coworkers and once prompted an internal inquiry into his conduct.
Ahead of Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Booker and six of his fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats are highlighting those past issues, sending a letter to the SDNY’s interim U.S. Attorney, Jay Clayton, asking for records related to Bove’s tenure in his office.
“Mr. Bove’s record of alleged abuse of power, ethical lapses, dishonesty, and unstable, abusive behavior during his tenure as a federal prosecutor warrants a thorough review of his employment history at SDNY by members of the Judiciary Committee,” the letter states. “Bove’s documented conduct raises serious concerns about his fitness for [a federal judgeship].”
Booker has made no secret of his distaste for Bove’s nomination. He and fellow New Jersey Senator Andy Kim said in a joint statement in May that they had not been consulted before Bove’s nomination was announced – breaking with standard Senate procedure regarding home-state senators – and that they viewed Bove as a “deeply troubling” choice.
“Traditionally, selecting circuit court nominees is a collaborative process between the Senate and the White House,” they said. “In this case, that tradition was cast aside. We had hoped to find a pick that would inspire broad-based confidence and support, but this is a deeply polarizing choice. The people of New Jersey deserve a federal judge that will observe judicial independence and work to preserve and secure justice for all. Based on his record, Emil Bove will not do that.”
The Third Circuit’s jurisdiction includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, making it more powerful than any other federal judicial body save for the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to New Jersey’s laws and residents.
After Greenaway left the court two years ago, President Joe Biden nominated Adeel Mangi, a North Jersey lawyer with a focus on religious liberties, to take his place. Mangi, who was Booker’s choice for the seat, would have been the first-ever Muslim federal appeals court judge (the first Senate-confirmed Muslim federal judge of any stripe, Zahid Quraishi, is also a New Jerseyan nominated by Biden).
But Mangi’s nomination ran aground in the Senate, where Republicans and a small number of Democrats who objected to some of his past advocacy work and connections blocked him from being confirmed. Rather than switching him out for a new nominee, the Biden administration continued to fruitlessly push for Mangi, eventually running out the clock and leaving the seat open for Trump to fill instead.
The Third Circuit’s other open seat was held by Kent Jordan, a George W. Bush appointee based in Delaware, until the beginning of this year. Trump has not yet announced his nominee for that seat.