Latest news with #EmilBove
Reuters
5 days ago
- 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
Washington Post
6 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Trump picks top Justice Dept. official who was his lawyer to be a judge
President Donald Trump's latest pick for the federal bench is a top Justice Department official who steered the dropping of criminal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams and has been pivotal in executing the department's immigration policies and personnel upheaval. Trump said on social media on Wednesday that he is nominating Emil Bove — the Justice Department's principal associate deputy attorney general — to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump Nominates His Nightmare Lawyer to Serve as Federal Judge
President Trump just awarded Emil Bove, his personal lawyer, with a nomination for a lifetime federal judiciary appointment. Bove, who unsuccessfully defended Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial, could now soon be a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, if confirmed by the Senate. 'It is my great honor to nominate Emil Bove to serve as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Emil is a distinguished graduate of Georgetown Law, and served as Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York for nearly a decade, where he was the Co-Chief of the Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. 'Emil 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. Emil Bove will never let you down!' Bove was serving as acting deputy attorney general before Todd Blanche was confirmed. He was key in dropping the multiple corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in exchange for Adams's loyalty. He also fired prosecutors who investigated January 6 and accused the FBI of 'insubordination' for not turning over the names of other staffers who worked on January 6 investigations. As a New York state prosecutor, he was described by colleagues as someone who could not 'be bothered to treat lesser mortals with respect or empathy.' 'In my experience litigating against him, what he enjoyed most as a prosecutor was wielding power — the single worst possible trait for a public servant,' former federal prosecutor and Bove legal opponent Christine Chung told the Associated Press. 'But people won't speak against him publicly because he's also vindictive, as he is now making abundantly clear.' This story has been updated.
Wall Street Journal
6 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Says He Will Nominate His Former Defense Lawyer to Appeals Court
President Trump on Wednesday said he would nominate Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official who previously served as his criminal defense attorney, to a seat on a federal appeals court. Trump said on social media that he had picked Bove for the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which serves the areas of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Virgin Islands. Bove must be approved by the Senate.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Ex-Trump defense lawyer Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official, is picked to be federal judge
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is nominating his former criminal defense lawyer Emil Bove, who as a high-ranking Justice Department official was behind the controversial move to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, to become a federal appeals court judge. As acting deputy attorney general, Bove has been at the center of some of the department's most scrutinized actions since Trump's return to the White House in January. Bove ordered the dismissal of charges against the Democratic leader of America's biggest city, accused FBI officials of 'insubordination' for refusing to hand over the names of agents who investigated the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, and ordered the firings of a group of prosecutors involved in the Jan. 6 criminal cases. He also moved aggressively to align the department with Trump's agenda around immigration and other matters, ordering federal prosecutors to investigate for potential criminal prosecution state or local officials who are believed to be interfering with the Republican administration's immigration crackdown. Trump picked Bove to fill a vacancy on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The nomination, which is subject to Senate confirmation, comes just months into Bove's contentious tenure at the department. 'Emil is SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone,' Trump said in a social media post announcing the nomination. 'He will end the Weaponization of Justice, restore the Rule of Law, and do anything else that is necessary to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Emil Bove will never let you down!' When Todd Blanche, another former criminal defense attorney for Trump, was sworn in as deputy attorney general, Bove became Blanche's top adviser, serving as the principal associate deputy attorney general. Bove, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, was on the defense team during Trump's New York hush money trial and defended Trump in the federal criminal cases brought by the Justice Department. The Justice Department abandoned Trump's federal 2020 election interference case and the classified documents case after Trump won the election in November. Bove's order to dismiss the Adams case roiled the department. Manhattan's top federal prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, and several high-ranking department officials resigned rather than carrying out Bove's order. In remarkable departure from long-standing department norms, Bove said the case should be dropped because it was interfering with the mayor's ability to aid the president's crackdown on illegal immigration. Bove clerked for two federal judges appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican. He then spent nine years at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan where he specialized in prosecuting drug kingpins and alleged terrorists. He was involved in multiple high-profile prosecutions, including a drug-trafficking case against the former Honduran president's brother, a man who set off a pressure cooker device in Manhattan and a man who sent dozens of mail bombs to prominent targets across the country. Bove's actions at the New York office, however, rankled some fellow prosecutors and defense attorneys. In 2018, the federal public defender's office compiled complaints about his behavior from defense attorneys and sent them to two top officials in the U.S. attorney's office. About 18 months after the email was sent, Bove was promoted to be co-chief of the office's national security and international narcotics unit.
