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Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted to advance President Donald Trump‘s former defense attorney Emil Bove to serve as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, clearing his nomination out of the committee to the full Senate for a vote.
The narrow vote came after roughly an hour of sharp debate from Democrats on the panel, who stormed out of the committee room shortly before the vote was held. Sens. Cory Booker, D-NJ, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-NY, had unsuccessfully urged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa to allow for more time to consider Bove’s nomination, citing concerns made by a former Justice Department attorney and whistleblower, Erez Reuveni.
The lack of candor prompted Whitehouse to declare, “there’s something rotten in Denmark,” invoking Shakespeare and Booker, moments later, to unsuccessfully appeal to Grassley’s “decency and decorum.”
“Debating the nomination, putting things on the record — Dear God, that’s what we are here for,” Booker erupted. “What are you afraid of?”
TRUMP NOMINATES FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY EMIL BOVE FOR FEDERAL APPEALS COURT VACANCY
FBI Director Kash Patel and Emil Bove listen to President Donald Trump speak at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on March 14, 2025. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
In the end, their appeal was unsuccessful, and Booker joined Democrats on the panel in walking out of the room before the vote was held.
The narrow confirmation vote from Republicans on the panel advances Bove’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote. It comes as Bove, a hard-charging former federal prosecutor whom Trump installed earlier this year as a senior official at the Justice Department, faces fresh scrutiny over his role in the administration. In recent weeks, a group of former federal judges and several Democrats on the committee have urged senators to reject his nomination.
If confirmed by the…
