Trump may be 'grooming' nominee for Supreme Court: 'Belongs to the president'

President Donald Trump's controversial nomination of his former defense attorney as an appeals court judge is just the next step in his effort to corrupt the judicial system, according to a legal expert.

The president nominated Emil Bove III to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which reviews federal cases in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Author and attorney Jeffrey Toobin published a column in The New York Times advancing the argument that Trump is "grooming" his former attorney for even loftier positions.

"With a devoted executive branch and a compliant Congress, Mr. Trump has faced real resistance only from the judiciary, and the nomination of Mr. Bove marks the beginning of his counterattack," Toobin wrote.

Bove headed up the Justice Department before attorney general Pam Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, another former Trump attorney, were confirmed to their positions and fired about two dozen federal prosecutors who had brought cases against Jan. 6 rioters, and Toobin argued that the president would not pull him away from that post unless he had other moves in mind.

"Even the harshest critic of Mr. Trump’s three nominees to the Supreme Court in his first term would have to acknowledge that they possessed judicial temperaments," Toobin wrote. "Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh had won broad respect as experienced federal appeals court judges who had written dozens of opinions; Amy Coney Barrett had only recently become a judge, but she had long been an accomplished and thoughtful law professor. Mr. Bove could scarcely differ more."

"At the age of 44, Mr. Bove has never written anything of consequence or even, apparently, expressed any views on the central issues of constitutional law," he added. "That in itself is not unprecedented for a lower court nominee, but what does distinguish Mr. Bove is his record of hard-edge advocacy and loyalty to Mr. Trump."

Bove worked about a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he prosecuted high-profile terrorism cases but was dogged by allegations of "unprofessional and unethical” behavior, and he left the office in 2021 after colleagues complained that he was abusive to subordinates, and he soon joined Blanche on Trump's criminal defense team.

"There is, of course, no more sacred principle in American law than that judges, not the executive branch, have the last word in determining what the government can and cannot do," Toobin wrote. "Asked at his confirmation hearing about his advocacy for defiance of the courts, Mr. Bove said he couldn’t recall using a vulgar phrase — an answer that seems improbable at best, especially since contemporaneous texts made reference to his statement [about openly defying court orders in immigration cases]. In any event, Mr. Bove’s hard line in favor of Mr. Trump’s deportation directives, even in the face of judicial opposition, is clearly a major reason the president wants him on the bench."

Bove's appeals court nomination will serve as a test for Senate Republicans, who typically ratify a president's nominees for lower courts, but Toobin doesn't think that will be the last time he will come before them as a judicial nominee.

"To date, at least, whatever Mr. Trump wants from his party, he gets," Toobin wrote. "On the bench, as at his Justice Department, Mr. Trump wants his people calling the shots. And Mr. Bove has proved, above all, that he belongs to the president."