When the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Emil Bove to a lifetime seat on the federal bench this summer, it did so in spite of ethical concerns that set him apart from some of Donald Trump’s other judicial nominees.
Given those concerns, which stemmed from his unscrupulous handling of multiple cases as a Department of Justice lawyer, Bove could have chosen to go above and beyond to reassure the American people that he views the job of a judge as different from the job of a partisan lawyer (which a DOJ lawyer shouldn’t be, anyway).
He chose differently Tuesday, when he attended a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. MS NOW’s Vaughn Hillyard reported that Bove said he was there as a citizen to watch the president speak.
Of course, there’s a difference between the rights of a private citizen and the role of a judge who’s tasked with avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. Bove prioritized the former over the latter by attending the political speech of the president who just appointed him and whose policies he might evaluate as a federal appellate judge. He sits on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit.
On Wednesday, Gabe Roth of watchdog organization Fix the Court filed a complaint to the circuit’s chief judge, writing that he believes Bove “has violated multiple Canons of the Code of Conduct, should be admonished for his behavior and should be subject to any other discipline under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act that the Chief Judge and the Judicial Council deem fit.”
The public display came as Bove, who previously represented Trump as a criminal defense lawyer, features in a Washington, D.C., judge’s contempt inquiry into DOJ lawyers’ actions in response to his order in March to halt flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act. A DOJ whistleblower alleged that Bove said “that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f––– you’ and ignore any such court order.” The whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, is slated to testify next week in Washington. Bove said in a sworn declaration to the judge this week that he had “contributed to privileged legal advice” on the matter but that he wasn’t authorized to disclose privileged information in his declaration. While that contempt inquiry plays out, one might think Bove would avoid needless public displays of political support for the president whose policies he’s accused of at least considering breaking the law for. On the other hand, his attendance at a Trump rally is in keeping with what we know about his character. In essence, his action tells non-Trump-supporting members of the public the same thing Reuveni alleged he was prepared to tell the courts: “f––– you.” Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administration’s legal cases.
Jordan Rubin is the Deadline: Legal Blog writer. He was a prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and is the author of “Bizarro," a book about the secret war on synthetic drugs. Before he joined MS NOW, he was a legal reporter for Bloomberg Law.
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