Latest news with #3rdCircuit
Reuters
29-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Justice Department curtails ABA role in vetting Trump's judicial nominees
May 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday limited the American Bar Association's decades-old role in rating candidates for life-tenured positions in the federal judiciary, curtailing its ability to vet new nominations by Republican President Donald Trump. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a letter to ABA President William Bray said that for decades the nation's largest voluntary association of lawyers had enjoyed special access to judicial nominees. "Unfortunately, the ABA no longer functions as a fair arbiter of nominees' qualifications, and its ratings invariably and demonstrably favor nominees put forth by Democratic administrations," Bondi wrote. She said that while the ABA was free like other organizations to comment on judicial nominations, Trump's nominees will not respond to its questionnaires and the Justice Department will no longer direct them to provide the group waivers allowing them access to their bar records. The ABA did not respond to a request for comment. The announcement came a day after Trump announced six new judicial nominees including Emil Bove, a Justice Department official who previously served as his criminal defense lawyer in the New York trial in which the president was convicted of criminal charges over hush money paid to a porn star. Trump announced that he was nominating Bove, the principal associate deputy attorney general, to serve as a life-tenured judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a move decried by Democrats. Starting in 1953 during Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure, the nonpartisan legal organization had vetted judicial nominees before they were sent to the U.S. Senate, which must vote to confirm them. The practice continued until 2021, when Republican President George W. Bush ended the tradition of giving the ABA a first look at nominees. While Democratic President Barack Obama revived the practice, Trump ended it again in 2017 in his first term, and Biden did not revive the practice. Bondi's letter went a step further by curtailing the organization's ability to vet nominees after they were named. Conservatives have long accused the ABA of bias against Republican judicial nominees. During Trump's first term in office, it rated 10 of judicial nominees as "not qualified." Those included U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a trial judge in Florida who is married to Chad Mizelle, Bondi's chief of staff. In a post on X, Chad Mizelle said the ABA "weighs nominees on politics, not qualifications." "The ABA even ruled that Clarence Thomas – one of the greatest jurists of our time – was 'not qualified' to serve as a judge," he wrote. "That's just one example." The first of Trump's 11 announced judicial nominees of his second term are slated to appear before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on June 4. Trump in his first term secured confirmation of 234 judicial nominees, including three members of the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority. Read more: Trump nominates his former defense attorney Emil Bove to serve as appellate judge Trump readies to name 'fearless' conservative judges in second term
Reuters
28-05-2025
- General
- Reuters
Trump nominates Emil Bove to serve as federal appellate judge
May 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he was nominating Justice Department official Emil Bove, who previously defended Trump in a criminal case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, to serve as a federal appeals court judge. Trump in a post on his social media platform Truth Social said he is nominating Bove, who serves as principal associate deputy attorney general, to serve as a life-tenured judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN," Trump wrote. "Emil Bove will never let you down!" The announcement brought to six the number of judicial nominees the Republican president has announced in his second term in office and the second for one of the 13 federal appeals courts that sit below the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump is expected to have the chance to make more than 100 judicial nominations over the next four years, adding to the conservative stamp he made on the judiciary with 234 appointments during his first term. Bove, a former federal prosecutor, represented Trump at his criminal trial in Manhattan last year alongside Todd Blanche, who is currently deputy attorney general. Trump was convicted on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, but is appealing. During the early weeks of the Trump administration, before Blanche was confirmed for his position, Bove served as acting deputy attorney general.
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Emil Bove: Trump nominates one of his former personal attorneys for prestigious federal appeals court seat
President Donald Trump has nominated Emil Bove, one of his former personal attorneys and now a top Justice Department official, to be a federal appeals court judge. Trump announced Bove's nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in a social media post Wednesday, saying that Bove is 'SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone.' 'He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,' Trump wrote. 'Emil Bove will never let you down!' This story is breaking and will be updated.
CNN
28-05-2025
- General
- CNN
Emil Bove: Trump nominates one of his former personal attorneys for prestigious federal appeals court seat
President Donald Trump has nominated Emil Bove, one of his former personal attorneys and now a top Justice Department official, to be a federal appeals court judge. Trump announced Bove's nomination to the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in a social media post Wednesday, saying that Bove is 'SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone.' 'He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,' Trump wrote. 'Emil Bove will never let you down!' This story is breaking and will be updated.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
One Judge Finds A Way To Uphold The Alien Enemies Act Removals
For the first time, a federal judge looked at Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to remove Venezuelans, and found a way to (kind of, sort of) agree. Judge Stephanie Lou Haines for the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled both that President Trump had complied with the Alien Enemies Act when he invoked it to remove more than 100 Venezuelans to an El Salvador detention camp, but that he needs to give people he designates as 'alien enemies' three weeks notice before doing so again. The decision — likely to face immediate appeal to the 3rd Circuit by the ACLU — could have real impact from a practical standpoint. Haines' district covers ICE's Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a hub for undocumented migrants in the Northeast at which several people who were removed under the Alien Enemies Act in March had been held. The decision itself is somewhat odd. Haines, a Trump appointee, found that the White House had correctly described a 'predatory incursion' by a foreign government into the United States when it designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang with some operations in the U.S., a terrorist organization and accused it of being in thrall to Caracas. That last part — that TdA is an arm of the Venezuelan government — is at the President's discretion to decide, Haines found. It's a win for the White House — sort of. Haines, as mentioned, is directing the administration to give alien enemy deportees three weeks notice before removing them. Despite that, it strikes me that she ratified the most clearly ridiculous part of Trump's AEA invocation, that the country is under invasion by the Venezuelan government. There's always the cop out that it's a political question left up to the President to decide, but the claim here is such cynical nonsense that it's hard for me to see it surviving as it makes its way up the courts. But then again, I'm only one man and have an admittedly limited perspective: If you live in the United States and observe the Venezuelan government conducting a predatory incursion in your area, please let us know by emailing talk@ Until he gets answers from the Justice Department and the Trump White House on the 'naked corruption' at the heart of Trump's decision to accept a luxury jet from Qatar to retrofit as the next Air Force one, the Senate minority leader is placing a hold on all DOJ political nominees. There are currently three Justice Department political nominees awaiting confirmation, but the NYT reports Chuck Schumer's hold could impact others. Holds significantly slow down, but do not block, nominees. The $400 million gift comes as President Trump is visiting the Middle East this week and is expected to meet with Qatari officials to announce an arms deal. 'This is not just naked corruption — it is also a grave national security threat,' Schumer said during floor remarks Tuesday. 'Until the American people learn the truth about this deal, I will do my part to block the galling and truly breathtaking politicization at the Department of Justice.' Schumer also called on the DOJ's FARA unit to 'disclose all activities by Qatari foreign agents inside the U.S. that could benefit' from Trump or his business ventures. It's not just Senate Democrats unnerved by Trump's acceptance of such a transparently corrupt gift. 'I'm not a fan of Qatar. I think they have a really disturbing pattern of funding theocratic lunatics who want to murder us, funding Hamas and Hezbollah. And that's a real problem,' Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in an interview with CNBC Tuesday. 'I also think the plane poses significant espionage and surveillance problems. We'll see how this issue plays out but I certainly have concerns.' The Supreme Court chief justice made the 'endangered' remarks and condemned 'trashing the justices' without mentioning Donald Trump or recent events directly, as is typical for John Roberts and other justices. During his conversation with Georgetown University Law Center Dean William Treanor, Roberts also lamented that not enough young people are learning civics in school. The key quotes from the convo: On criticism of SCOTUS: 'It is a good thing so long as it's not trashing the justices,' Roberts said. 'The court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized so long as it is in terms of the decision and not ad hominem against the justices.' On the 'endangered' rule of law front: 'I think you're talking about strengthening the rule of law. One area where it is most endangered is young people,' he said, later adding, 'We are developing a situation where a whole group of young people is growing up having no real sense about how our system of justice works.' More: 'The notion that the rule of law governs is the basic proposition, and again certainly as a matter of theory but also as a matter of practice, we need to stop and reflect every now and then how rare that is — certainly how rare throughout history and rare in the world today,' he said. House Dems Weigh Legal Action Over Trump's Library Of Congress Meddling: 'The President Probably Violated The Law' The Cost Of Medicaid Cuts For Elderly Americans Trump DOJ Uses State Secrets Claim To Stonewall Abrego Garcia Don't Get Conned By Trump's Big, Beautiful Air Force One Boondoggle Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Changed His Wife's Flight to Avoid Newark Airport Ben Shapiro, Laura Loomer lead rare MAGA backlash to Trump's Qatari jet America Is the Land of Opportunity—For White South Africans
