Trump Could Be Eyeing One of His Most Bruising Legal Enforcers for a Federal Judgeship — and Maybe for the Supreme Court

The possibility that President Trump could name Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove to the Third Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals suggests that the 47th president has his eyes on an even bigger assignment — a seat on the Supreme Court.Mr. Bove served as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney after stints at Sullivan & Cromwell and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Along with his current boss, Todd Blanche, Mr. Bove represented Mr. Trump in his hush money, classified documents, and election interference criminal cases. Mr. Blanche is now the deputy attorney general. If a report from the Times is correct, though, Mr. Bove could soon find himself departing the Department of Justice — part of the executive branch, whose members serve at the pleasure of the president — for the federal bench and an appellate court created under Article III of the Constitution. Mr. Bove, if he is confirmed to the Third Circuit, would enjoy a lifetime appointment. For Mr. Bove to slip on a black robe and take hold of a gavel, though, he would require confirmation by the Senate. Democrats are sure to home in on Mr. Bove’s central role as a bruising enforcer of Mr. Trump’s agenda early in his first term. It was Mr. Bove who, before Mr. Blanche was confirmed, fired FBI agents and DOJ lawyers who were involved in investigating the events of January 6, 2021. He has also worked closely with a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, Stephen Miller, on immigration issues. Mr. Bove most vividly demonstrated his loyalty to Mr. Trump’s agenda when he insisted that the SDNY — his old base — drop its criminal bribery charges against Mayor Adams. That elicited resistance from the acting United States attorney for the SDNY, Danielle Sassoon. She, along with several other prosecutors, resigned rather than move for dismissal.Ms. Sassoon accused the Trump administration of engineering a “quid-pro-quo” with Mr. Adams whereby charges would be dropped in exchange for cooperation on immigration enforcement. The case’s lead prosecutor, Hagen Scott, wrote in his resignation letter that “our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials.”Mr. Bove was unmoved. He reckoned that Ms. Sassoon “lost sight of the oath” that she took when she “started at the Department of Justice by suggesting that you retain discretion to interpret the Constitution.” Mr. Bove argued that the charges “restricted Mayor Adams’ ability to devote full attention and resources to the illegal immigration and violent crime that escalated under the policies of the prior Administration.”The presiding judge, Dale Ho, ultimately decided to dismiss the charges “with prejudice,” meaning that they cannot be refiled. Judge Ho reasoned that a dismissal “without prejudice” would give Washington ongoing influence — a Sword of Damocles — over Gracie Mansion. Judge Ho wrote that “everything here smacks of a bargain, dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions.” Mr. Bove himself, following a wave of resignations at both the SDNY and Main Justice, argued for dismissal before Judge Ho. If he is raised to the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, he would hear only appellate arguments, not trial questions like those that come before Judge Ho. One conservative legal commentator, Ed Whelan, took to X to call the possibility of Mr. Bove’s nomination “bad news for those of us hoping that Trump will continue first-term practice of outstanding appellate nominations.” Mr. Whelan added that a nomination would give Republican senators “an opportunity to demonstrate that they’re not going to rubber-stamp judicial nominees.”A seat on the Third Circuit would also put Mr. Bove only one step below the Supreme Court, where three of the nine justices were appointed by Mr. Trump during his first term. An appellate berth would amount to rarefied air for Mr. Bove, who attended the University of Albany and Georgetown University School of Law — not the Ivy League universities that are the typical launching pads for the upper echelons of the legal world. While the court currently enjoys a 6-to-3 conservative majority, its two oldest justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, are conservatives. Either could decide to resign while a Republican is at the White House. The third oldest justice is Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal who declined to step down while President Biden was in office. The emergence this term of Justice Amy Coney Barrett — Mr. Trump’s final justice appointed during his first term — as something of a swing vote on hot-button issues like federal spending and immigration could persuade the president that his next appointment ought to have a track record defined by loyalty. Mr. Bove would appear to fit that bill.

Trump Could Be Eyeing One of His Most Bruising Legal Enforcers for a Federal Judgeship — and Maybe for the Supreme Court

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