Trump Nominates Former Defense Lawyer Emil Bove as Appellate Judge

Bove has been serving as the principal associate deputy attorney general.

Emil Bove in a file photograph. Jeenah Moon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump on May 28 said he nominated one of his former defense attorneys to serve as a judge on a federal appeals court.

Trump said he was choosing Emil Bove, the former lawyer, to become a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

“Emil is smart, tough, and respected by everyone,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “He 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!”

Judicial nominations require Senate approval. If nominees are approved, their positions are for life.

Republicans hold a 53–47 majority in the upper chamber.

Bove, a graduate from Georgetown Law School, previously worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Starting in January, for about two months, he was acting deputy attorney general. After the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general, Bove transitioned to the role of principal associate deputy attorney general.

Bove has been involved in a number of high-profile decisions in Trump’s second term, including the move to dismiss charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Multiple prosecutors in the southern New York office resigned rather than comply with orders to file for the dismissal of the case against Adams, resulting in Bove himself signing a motion for dismissal.

A federal judge ultimately dismissed the case with prejudice, preventing prosecutors from potentially refiling the charges later. Officials had requested that the charges be dismissed without prejudice.

The Third Circuit hears appeals in cases from three states: Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on the social media platform X that he’s concerned about Bove’s nomination.

“Mr. Bove has abused his position in numerous ways—such that I led all Senate Judiciary Democrats in filing a professional misconduct complaint against him with the New York State Bar,” Durbin wrote.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the chairman of the panel, has not yet commented on Trump’s choice of Bove to fill a Third Circuit vacancy.

Trump on Wednesday also announced five other judicial nominations.

He said he’s nominating Kyle Dudek, John Guard, Anne-Leigh Gaylord Moe, and Jordan E. Pratt to serve as judges on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Trump also nominated Ed Artau to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Dudek is currently a magistrate judge, or a judge picked by other judges, for the federal court in central Florida. Guard is Florida’s chief deputy attorney general. Moe, Pratt, and Artau are state judges.