Whistleblower Claims Cloud Bove’s Appeals Court Bid at Senate Hearing

A whistle-blower complaint released on 24 June alleges that Emil Bove III, currently the Justice Department’s principal associate deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, urged government lawyers to ignore potential court injunctions against the administration’s mass-deportation plan. In the filing, former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni says Bove told colleagues they might need to tell judges “f— you” if orders impeded flights deporting alleged gang members under the Alien Enemies Act. Reuveni, a 15-year career lawyer who was fired in April after raising concerns about a wrongful deportation, provided emails and other records to Congress and the department’s inspector general.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats, who had already demanded Bove’s personnel files and any misconduct complaints, seized on the allegations during a confirmation hearing on 25 June. They questioned Bove about the deportation episode as well as his decisions to dismiss a bribery case against New York Mayor Eric Adams and to fire prosecutors working on January 6 investigations. Committee members Dick Durbin and Cory Booker said the claims underscored what they called Bove’s disregard for the rule of law.

Testifying under oath, Bove denied ever advising attorneys to violate a court order and described the whistle-blower account as a “wildly inaccurate caricature.” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who attended the hearing, likewise branded the complaint “utterly false.” Republican senators focused on Bove’s record as a terrorism prosecutor and his pledge to follow precedent, while Democrats faulted him for repeatedly invoking executive-branch privilege to avoid detailing internal discussions.

The committee has not announced a date for a vote on the nomination. With Republicans holding a 53–47 Senate majority, Bove could be confirmed without Democratic support, but party leaders signaled an aggressive campaign to block the lifetime appointment, citing unresolved questions about the deportation directive and broader concerns over politicization of the Justice Department.