The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to advance Emil Bove’s nomination for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, sparking a protest from all Democratic senators, except for Cory Booker, who remained in the room. The vote, which was conducted with only Republican support, led to Democrats walking out of the hearing room. The controversy has been intensified by the recent allegations against Bove, stemming from a whistleblower’s complaint regarding his role as a former criminal defense attorney to President Trump.
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Chuck Grassley defended the procedure, citing precedent from November 2023 when Democrats proceeded with a vote on two judicial nominees from President Biden, despite Republican protests. However, the situation has not been without opposition, with Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin questioning Bove’s involvement in the Justice Department’s decision not to release files in the case against disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died in his jail cell in 2019.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a de facto swing vote on the judiciary panel, chose to support Bove’s nomination, despite earlier statements indicating he would not support nominees who had supported the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Tillis emphasized that he would not support any nominee who had endorsed violence against Capitol police officers, but did not find any evidence of such condonation on Bove’s part.