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The president tapped his former defense lawyer to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
May 28, 2025Updated 4:27 p.m. ET
President Trump announced Wednesday that he would nominate Emil Bove III, the polarizing and widely feared top Justice Department official responsible for strong-arm tactics in enacting Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, to be a federal appeals judge.
Mr. Bove, 44, is a former criminal defense lawyer for Mr. Trump. He would fill a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The lifetime appointment requires conformation in the Senate, where he is expected to face the unanimous opposition of Democrats.
“Emil is SMART, TOUGH, and respected by everyone,” Mr. Trump wrote on 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!”
Mr. Bove, a graduate of Georgetown’s law school who prosecuted high-profile national security cases during nearly a decade in the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office, has told friends that his longtime goal had been to serve as a federal judge, according to people in his orbit.
But should he be confirmed, he would exit one of the most powerful federal law enforcement jobs in the country after only a few months on the job — a period where he has ordered the purge of career officials and emerged as a stoic and unyielding enforcer of the president’s agenda.
