Sen. Hirono: “Far from an independent, fair-minded jurist, Mr. Bove is willing to use whatever means he deems necessary to meet the ends sought by Donald Trump.”
~ Video of Senator Hirono’s floor speech can be found here ~
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, took to the Senate floor to speak out against the nomination of Emil Bove, President Trump’s former personal defense attorney, who has been nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Since the beginning of his term, Trump has prioritized the nominations of faithful loyalists like Mr. Bove, and this week, Senate Republicans are seeking to move forward with his confirmation.
“Based on his nomination hearing and a review of his background and the record before us, Mr. Bove is unfit to be a federal judge because of his disregard for the rule of law and his temperament,” said Senator Hirono during her remarks. “Mr. Bove has no respect for the rule of law or the courts that uphold it. This was made all too clear by a whistleblower.”
Senator Hirono proceeded to reference a whistleblower complaint by Erez Reuveni detailing Mr. Bove’s disregard for court orders and the rule of law at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Far from a rogue partisan, Mr. Reuveni spent 15 years at the Department of Justice, including during the first Trump Administration, where he received awards for his work defending the Administration’s policies in court,” said Senator Hirono. “Mr. Reuveni produced a hundred pages of documents and text messages supporting his statement that under Bove, DOJ lawyers were directed to prioritize the President’s political agenda over their legal and ethical obligations.”
Senator Hirono’s speech comes after she joined other Senate Judiciary Democrats in collectively walking out of a committee meeting last week, after Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chair of the Committee, refused to allow Democratic committee members to speak on Mr. Bove’s nomination.
“Rather than hold a hearing to hear from this whistleblower under oath, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee chose to rush through Mr. Bove’s nomination, breaking precedent by refusing to allow Democrats to even speak on his nomination in Committee,” said Senator Hirono.
Senator Hirono also highlighted Mr. Bove’s alleged unethical conduct and abusive behavior as a supervisor working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
“Beyond his disregard for the law, Mr. Bove also lacks the temperament to be a federal judge,” continued Senator Hirono. “One issue that is particularly important to me is harassment and abuse of law clerks and court staff by federal judges. Those with nearly absolute power—like a federal judge in their chambers—can do great harm to those that work for them.”
“Far from an independent, fair-minded jurist, Mr. Bove is willing to use whatever means he deems necessary to meet the ends sought by Donald Trump,” concluded Senator Hirono. “We need to do our jobs by rejecting this nominee.”
The full transcript of Senator Hirono’s speech is available below. Video of Senator Hirono’s floor speech is available here.
Mr. President, we have an administration that is flouting the law at every turn. Since being sworn into office, Donald Trump has signed dozens of executive orders attempting to do everything from ending birthright citizenship and eliminating the Department of Education, to invoking the Alien Enemies Act to deport individuals without due process. In the months since, lawyers defending these lawless actions in court have been rebuked time and again by judges across the country—including judges nominated by Donald Trump himself. Note that even Donald Trump’s nominated judges have said, ‘You can’t keep making these kinds of arguments before me.’
So now, Trump has gone even further by nominating, to a lifetime judgeship, a man who makes no secret of his disregard for our courts and the rule of law—that man is Emil Bove.
Based on his nomination hearing and a review of his background and the record before us, Mr. Bove is unfit to be a federal judge because of his disregard for the rule of law and his temperament. There are so many red flags regarding this nominee, as articulated by my colleagues before me.
Mr. Bove has no respect for the rule of law or the courts that uphold it. This was made all too clear by a whistleblower—a man who had the courage to point out certain things about this nominee—and this courageous whistleblower is Erez Reuveni.
Mr. Reuveni was a career attorney at the DOJ before he was fired by the Trump Administration for admitting—by not lying to the court—that the Administration made a mistake in deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. Note this, he was fired because he told the truth to the courts. He was expected to lie to the court and say, ‘Oh the Trump Administration did not make a mistake in Mr. Garcia’s case.’ The facts prove otherwise.
Far from a rogue partisan, Mr. Reuveni spent 15 years at the Department of Justice, including during the first Trump Administration, where he received awards for his work defending the Administration’s policies in court. Mr. Reuveni shared with the Judiciary Committee that Mr. Bove, the nominee before us, casually discussed ignoring court orders at a meeting attended by, not just Mr. Reuveni, but by a bunch of other AGs in the Department of Justice. So, while Mr. Bove and my Republican colleagues would like to focus on whether Mr. Bove actually directed the government to ignore a court order at this fateful meeting, that hope misses the point.
According to Mr. Reuveni, Mr. Bove said the Justice Department would “need to consider telling the courts ‘eff you’” if the court ordered the Administration, the Justice Department, to stop what they were doing. Neither Mr. Bove, nor anyone else, has denied that sequence of events. Mr. Reuveni produced a hundred pages of documents and text messages supporting his statement that under Bove, DOJ lawyers were directed to prioritize the President’s political agenda over their legal and ethical obligations.
My Democratic colleagues and I tried to ask Mr. Bove about these revelations, but, unsurprisingly, he refused to answer nearly all of the questions on these points. And as noted, he even cited to privileges that don't even apply to him. So, we didn't get much in the way of responses from Mr. Bove.
So, as for the Committee, rather than hold a hearing to hear from this whistleblower under oath, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee chose to rush through Mr. Bove’s nomination, breaking precedent by refusing to allow Democrats to even speak on his nomination in Committee. I’m sure people saw that the Democrats on that Committee walked out in protest.
Beyond his disregard for the rule of law, Mr. Bove also lacks the temperament to be a federal judge. You know, we expect our federal judges to be fair, to be objective—we don't expect them to have political axes to grind, but that's not what we're going to get with Mr. Bove.
One issue that is particularly important to me is harassment and abuse of law clerks and court staff by federal judges. Those with nearly absolute power—like a federal judge in their chambers—can do great harm to those that work for them. That’s why I introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill aimed at addressing workplace harassment in the federal judiciary—we know this happens.
This issue arises with regard to Mr. Bove because of reports that he was an abusive supervisor at the Southern District of New York. In other words, he is a supervisor who abuses his powers. When questioned, Mr. Bove confirmed that a group of office leaders recommended to the U.S. Attorney that he be removed as the supervisor of the unit he was leading. According to reports, this came after an investigation, and Mr. Bove only kept his job after he pleaded to keep it.
It is, frankly, astounding that these very busy prosecutors in the office that he was in considered Mr. Bove’s behavior so concerning that they went so far as to investigate his behavior and recommend his removal. To clarify things, I asked Mr. Bove in Questions for the Record to send us copies of his personnel file—he refused.
Far from an independent, fair-minded jurist, Mr. Bove is willing to use whatever means he deems necessary to meet the ends sought by Donald Trump. There is absolutely no question that the reason Mr. Bove came to President Trump's attention was his complete loyalty to President Trump, which he manifests clearly.
You know, this is a concern. Don’t take my word for it. I want to show you, Mr. President, this is a letter signed by nearly 1,000 former DOJ lawyers urging this body to reject Mr. Bove’s nomination.
They wrote, “We, the undersigned, proudly defended the rule of law as attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice. We are all alarmed by DOJ leadership's recent deviations from constitutional principles and institutional guardrails.”
These almost 1,000 letter writers continue, “Emil Bove has been a leader in this assault. Despite that, he now stands before you as a nominee for a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit…It is intolerable to us that anyone who disgraces the Justice Department would be promoted to one of the highest courts in the land, as it should be intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice.”
They went on to remind us that each of us in this body was elected by a democratic process anchored by the rule of law, and urged us to protect the rule of law by voting our conscience and rejecting Mr. Bove’s nomination.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter I refer to be included in the record.
Presiding Officer: Without objection.
Sen. Hirono: For all the reasons provided by me and my colleagues before me on the Democratic side, I urge my colleagues to join me in defending the rule of law, not putting into a lifetime appointment somebody who thinks that he can ignore court orders, and certainly not by saying ‘eff you’ to the courts, that that person not be confirmed by this body. We need to do our jobs by rejecting this nominee.
Mr. President, I yield.
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