Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement opposing Emil Bove’s confirmation to the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ahead of the committee’s scheduled vote to advance his nomination.
“It is clearer today than it has ever been: Emil Bove has not been honest with the Senate Judiciary Committee or the American people. He lacks the judgement, temperament, and integrity to serve as an arbiter of our nation’s laws. He is patently unfit to serve as a federal judge.
“As a prosecutor, Bove’s misconduct was so egregious that his fellow prosecutors thought he should be demoted. A federal judge thought his oversight of a prosecution was so flawed, and that his team misled the court and withheld exculpatory evidence, that the case had to be dismissed. And as one of the most senior officials in Trump’s Justice Department, several of his colleagues quit over his unethical conduct when he insisted they dismiss a valid corruption case against the Mayor of New York because the mayor was helpful to the president.
“Bove fired numerous prosecutors solely because they were involved in the successful prosecution of January 6th insurrectionists. And he refused to rule out a third Trump presidency, even though it would violate the Constitution. His only quality seems to be an unwavering commitment — not to the law — but to the person of the president.
“Through damning whistleblower testimony, we learned that he encouraged Justice Department officials to ignore court orders, and suggested they say ‘F-you’ to the court if it ruled the administration’s deportations to other countries were unlawful. The mountain of evidence of Emil Bove’s misconduct should be enough for any Senator to oppose his lifetime appointment to the federal bench.
“Donald Trump is daring Republic Senators to reject this unfit nominee. And if they won’t reject someone who has demonstrated such routine disregard for rule of law from an appointment to the court of appeals, how will they later refuse him a potential seat on the U.S. Supreme Court?”
Background:
During the Senate Judiciary Committee’s judicial nomination hearing, Schiff pressed Bove on whether he suggested that Department of Justice attorneys should ignore court orders and questioned Bove about his role in the dismissal of the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Prior to Bove’s nomination hearing, Schiff joined Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee colleagues in demanding relevant personnel records.
After a whistleblower report from a former high-ranking DOJ official alleged that Bove encouraged government lawyers to ignore court orders, Schiff and other Senate Judiciary Committee Democratspushed for further investigation of Bove’s conduct in light of released text messages, email exchanges, and documents further supporting the whistleblower’s claims.
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