The knives are out for Emil Bove, the principal assistant deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump’s nominee for an opening on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Bove faces what is expected to be a heated confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning.

Opposition to Bove’s nomination is not based on his resume – he graduated at the top of his class from Georgetown Law and spent 10 years as a top prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s office in the southern district of New York among other accomplishments – but because he represented the president in two criminal matters: Special Counsel Jack Smith’s so-called documents case in Florida and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s business records case in New York.

But Bove really rankled the old guard at the Department of Justice – and establishment DOJ’s defenders in the Democratic Party and national news media – by aggressively addressing corruption at the department, one of the president’s top priorities. Consistent with the president’s executive order to end the weaponization of government, particularly at the DOJ, Bove, the acting deputy attorney general at the time, quickly enacted a series of reforms. Known partisans at the department were fired or reassigned to a new immigration enforcement unit, prompting many to resign.

Bove launched an investigation into potential corrupt FBI practices related to the massive Jan. 6 investigation and fired temporary assistant U.S. attorneys hired exclusively to handle J6 prosecutions since the so-called “Capitol Siege” unit was shuttered after Trump’s inauguration. FBI agents and officials tied to the August 2022 armed raid of Mar-a-Lago were ousted.

But his move to dismiss the federal indictment of New York Mayor Eric Adams landed Bove in the media’s crosshairs and resulted in an internal mutiny of sorts with prosecutors openly defying his order to drop the case. New Trump #resistance stars were born after some DOJ officials issued public resignation letters defending the politically tainted case and condemning Bove’s directive. Rather than take the insubordination lying down, Bove opened an investigation into their misconduct.

Now, scorned DOJ employees are looking for revenge. A New York Times hit piece on Bove, published roughly 24 hours before the start of his confirmation hearing, claimed he discussed the possibility of defying court orders related to the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), one of the president’s signature deportation policies. 

According to allegations in a whistleblower complaint by Erez Reuvini, a career DOJ official, Bove said during a meeting on March 14, the day Trump signed the act, that “DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such court order” to halt the removal of illegal Venezuelans covered by the AEA. (The following day, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of five illegals covered by the AEA in the courtroom of D.C. District Court Judge James Boasberg. The case became a flashpoint in the lawfare against the president as Boasberg banned the removal of the AEA subjects; the Supreme Court overturned his ban on April 7. Boasberg also opened a contempt investigation into the administration for allegedly defying an “oral” order to return planes, out of U.S. airspace at the time, carrying AEA subjects. The Supreme Court also suspended that inquiry.)

“Mr. Reuveni’s account highlights the tensions that have been roiling the Justice Department for months, where many current and former career lawyers have come to fear that the department’s political leadership, chosen by Mr. Trump, is engaged in a systematic effort to undermine the rule of law,” Devlin Barrett wrote on June 24. “[Hundreds] of department lawyers have quit rather than follow the course being set by the Trump administration. Scores of others have been demoted or fired.”

Despite the unsubstantiated account by Reuveni – who was fired for insubordination in April for failing to “zealously advocate on behalf of the United States and engaging in conduct prejudicial to your client” after Reuveni refused to sign a brief in the Garcia case – and the fact the Supreme Court later vacated Boasberg’s orders in the case, the Timesstory went viral. “Top Justice Department leaders and judicial nominee tried to mislead judges, whistleblower says,” CNN reported. “Trump DOJ Lackey Told Underlings to Say ‘F*** You’ to Court Orders,” the Daily Beast breathlessly claimed. (Important to note the written court orders in the Alien Enemies Act were followed, a point not disputed by Boasberg.)

Key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also weighed in. Senator Cory Booker posted on X that “Emil Bove has no respect for the rule of law and court orders. He does not belong on the federal bench.” Senator Adam Schiff worried aloud that Bove could wind up on Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist at some point.

Hard to think of better non-endorsements.

Ousted DOJ officials added their voice to the anti-Bove bandwagon in a video produced by Justice Connection, a group of displaced and disgruntled DOJ employees. Michael Romano, who led the Jan. 6 investigation and publicly blasted Trump’s pardon of J6ers, described Bove as the president’s “personal attack dog” and insisted he “could not be impartial on the court of appeals.” A prosecutor on the Eric Adams case also said Bove was unfit for the bench: Ryan Crosswell, an attorney at the now-shuttered public integrity unit at the DOJ, accused Bove of making a “political calculation” in dropping the Biden-era indictment against one of Biden’s most outspoken Democratic critics.

So, what gives? One would think in this era of judicial defiance that represents a courtroom coup of sorts against the duly elected president and his administration, these “rule of law” hawks could certainly find more deserving targets of their ire. Where is their outrage against Judge Brian Murphy, who just announced he would ignore a Supreme Court ruling overturning his order to halt the deportation of criminal illegals to third-party countries? Or basically any judge on the D.C. District Court responsible for single-handedly gutting key executive orders without any basis or authority?

Further, where was this righteous indignation when the DOJ relentlessly pursued Trump, his White House aides, his political advisors, and nearly 1,600 supporters who protested at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021?

The anti-Bove operation represents an old playbook – administrative state saboteurs working behind the scenes to thwart Trump, then taking their unsubstantiated gripes public to the open arms of the media and Democrats in Congress – used successfully during the first Trump administration to run loyalists out of his administration.

It is important not to let history repeat itself in the Bove nomination.