President Trump’s nomination of a high Department of Justice official, Emil Bove, to a converted seat on the Third United States Appeals Circuit is prompting a furious backlash from some corners of the legal establishment — and one of his former subordinates. 

Text messages provided to Congress by a former lawyer at DOJ turned whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, relate that Mr. Bove told staff that they might have to consider telling courts “f— you” with respect to immigration orders. The texts, provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, do not contain correspondence with Mr. Bove — just Mr. Reuveni’s contemporary reflections. The texts were released by Democrats. 

Mr. Reuveni was placed on leave and then fired following his admission in Judge James Boasberg’s district court that the Trump administration mistakenly deported a Salvadoran national, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The administration subsequently denied that a mistake was made, though a court filing this week appears to confirm Mr. Reuveni’s initial position. 

Attorney General Bondi took to X on Thursday to call Mr. Reuveni “a leaker asserting false claims seeking five minutes of fame, conveniently timed just before a confirmation hearing and a committee vote.” If the Senate Judiciary Committee votes to advance Mr. Bove, he will need a simple majority of the full Senate to take his seat on the Philadelphia-based circuit. 

Mr. Bove’s chances of confirmation brightened this week when Senator Tillis, who has said that he will not seek re-election next year, announced that he was likely to support Mr. Bove. Mr. Tillis is something of a swing vote on the committee — last month he signaled that he would not support Mr. Trump’s then-nominee for United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin. Mr. Trump withdrew Mr. Martin’s candidacy.   

During a confirmation hearing last month Mr. Bove told senators that he has “never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order.” Mr. Reuveni told the Times on Thursday: “The Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts” and forcing attorneys to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court.”  Republicans control 53 Senate seats, with Vice President Vance as potential tie breaker.

Mr. Bove has distinguished himself in recent months as a loyalist of the 47th president. Before being appointed to the DOJ the former federal prosecutor represented Mr. Trump across three of his four criminal trials. He quarterbacked the administration’s push to dismiss criminal bribery charges against Mayor Adams, a blunt-force pivot that resulted in a wave of resignations at the Southern District of New York and Main Justice, in the District of Columbia.

One of those who resigned was the acting United States attorney for the SDNY, Danielle Sassoon. She accused Mr. Bove of orchestrating a “quid pro quo” whereby the charges against Hizzoner were dropped in exchange for cooperating with Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda. The federal judge who dismissed the case ruled, “Everything here smacks of a bargain.”

On Monday a group of former federal prosecutors at the District of Columbia wrote to the Senate urging the world’s greatest deliberative body to reject Mr. Bove. The missive calls him “far worse and more dangerous” than Mr. Martin. The letter alleges that Mr. Bove has “has demonstrated a willingness to ignore his oath to the Constitution and to disregard the Rule of Law in an effort to conform to every possible whim of the President.” 

Early in Mr. Trump’s second term Mr. Bove, who works for Ms. Bondi, gave the order to dismiss three prosecutors who had worked on cases relating to January 6. He also demanded a list of FBI agents who worked on January 6 prosecutions. The DOJ also terminated several prosecutors who were seconded to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team.  

Also on Thursday a watchdog group, American Oversight, filed a lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia seeking judicial enforcement of a Freedom of Information Request against the DOJ for documents relating to Mr. Bove’s tenure. The suit alleges that Mr. Bove has worked “to defy the Constitution and the rule of law.”

Mr. Trump has written on Truth Social that Mr. Bove “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!”