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The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s candidate Emil Bove as a federal judge on Tuesday, citing a lifelong role in a strong court of appeals for the Justice Department’s controversial leader.
Bove was narrowly confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Third Circuit, with 50-49 votes without Democrat support. His confirmation followed a weeks-long review process, involving three whistleblower complaints and external figures expressing both support and opposition to his nomination.
R-Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said from the Senator’s floor before the vote that he supported Bove and believed the candidate was the target of “unfair accusations and abuse.”
“He has a strong legal background and has given his country honor. I think he will become a hardworking, capable and just jurist,” Grassley said.
Bove’s ascension to the Court of Appeals marks the peak of his legal career.
He started as a rising student, a university athlete and a graduate of Georgetown University Law School. He went on to serve as a store clerk for two federal judges, worked for about a decade as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, leading the famous terrorist attacks and drug trafficking cases until 2019.
Official face test of top DOJs in the Senate on nominations to become federal judges
Emil Bove, the candidate for President Donald Trump’s Third Circuit Judge, was sworn in Washington, DC (Kevin Diet/Getty Images) on June 25, 2025 before testifying at a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee building.
Now alongside Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Bove led Trump’s personal defense team during the president’s criminal prosecution. In an interview last month, Blanche told Fox News Digital that Bove is a “great lawyer” who wrote most of their legal briefs for Trump’s case. In a letter to the Senate, Attorney Gene Cher called Bove’s short writing “Superb.”
Bove will quit his job as Chief Deputy Attorney General of DOJ. Attorney General Pam Bondy congratulated him in a statement.
“This is a great day for our country,” Bondi wrote to X:
Two Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkovsky of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, voted against Bove.
Democrats and those who crossed the road with Bove during his time at New York and DOJ headquarters were vehemently opposed his nomination, saying he was not qualified.
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May 29, 2024, another Trump lawyer at Manhattan Criminal Court, former President Donald Trump, lawyer for Trump Trump and Emilbove, Todd Blanche (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
One whistleblower, Erez Roubeni, has become a successful prosecutor at DOJ in the past 15 years when he was fired under Bove’s watch. Reuveni, the party of the conference, said in March that Bove floated against a court order that hinders one of Trump’s most legally suspicious deportation plans, Bove denied. Roubeni also said that it was misleading federal judges in the culture at DOJ, particularly at the most intense moments of immigration lawsuits, and that it was something he had never experienced during his tenure, including Trump’s first term.
Two other anonymous whistleblowers appeared at 11th hour during the verification process, ensuring Louvenie’s claim.
A Grassley spokesperson told Fox News Digital The Third Whistleblower that he had brought the Senate Democrats to argue and did not attempt to engage with Grassley. Grassley staff eventually met with the whistleblower lawyer after the chairman’s office reached out, a spokesperson said.
Grassley said his staff interviewed more than a dozen people to review the claims of the first whistleblower and found no evidence that Bove urged staff to rebel against the court.
“If you accept most of the claims as true, there’s no scandal,” Grassley said. “It is not fraudulent for government lawyers to actively sue and interpret court orders. That’s what lawyers do.”
While in New York, Bove also alienated his colleagues. In 2018, the defense attorney said in an email reported by the Associated Press that Bove “can’t bother treating fewer people with respect or empathy.” Another lawyer who interacted with Bove in New York told Fox News Digital that he was a “bully.”
Trump considers former defense attorney Emil Bove for a vacancy in the federal court of appeals
(LR) Todd Blanche, Emil Bove and John Lauro, lawyers for former President Donald Trump, leave federal court on September 5, 2024 after hearing Trump’s election interference case in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images).
A group opposed to Bove’s nomination, Justice Connection, has released a letter signed by more than 900 former DOJ employees calling for the Senate to refuse Bove’s nomination.
Among their concerns was that Bove led the firing of Democrat Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption controversy. Several DOJ officials resigned in protest of Bove’s orders in order to abandon the charges. In the letter, the former employee said Bove was “trampling on institutional norms” and that he lacked impartiality.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have staged a strike at a hearing in Bove before a recent vote to advance his nomination. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y. called him a “hungry.”
“He’s an extreme extreme,” Schumer told reporters. “He’s not a legal scholar. He’s a henchman of Trump. That seems to be a recent appointee.”
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Bove protected himself from critics during the confirmation hearing.
“I am not a minions of anyone. I am not an enforcer,” Bove said. “I’m a small town lawyer who never expected to be in an arena like this.”
Alex Miller of Fox News contributed to this report.
Ashley Oliver is a reporter for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, covering the Department of Justice and legal affairs. Email story tips to Ashley.oliver@fox.com.
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