President Donald Trump is considering one of his former defense attorneys for a nomination to a federal appeals court.
Two sources familiar with the matter told the New York Times that Emil Bove, the president's former criminal defense lawyer and current Justice Department official, is a top contender for an open seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
"The people familiar with the matter spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal matter that has not yet been publicly announced," the Times reported. "They cautioned that the timing remains unclear, and the intentions could still shift."
Democrats are all but certain to scrutinize Bove's role in enacting Trump's immigration agenda from his position in the Justice Department, where he serves as top deputy to Todd Blanche, the DOJ's second-ranking official who defended Trump with Bove at two of his federal trials.
"One of the more defining episodes of his tenure so far was the battle he waged against his former colleagues in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York over the administration’s request to drop bribery charges against the New York mayor, Mr. Adams," the Times reported.
"Mr. Bove pressured top prosecutors in the office to drop the case. He claimed that the charges had been brought by an overzealous Biden-appointed U.S. attorney and argued that the case would hinder Mr. Adams’ capacity to cooperate with the White House on immigration enforcement."
The 44-year-old Bove graduated from Georgetown Law School and served nearly a decade in the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, and sources close to him say he has told friends that his longtime ambition has been to serve as a federal judge.
