Justice Dept. Leader Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says

[AZProgressive]

A senior Justice Department official, Emil Bove III, told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders in order to fulfill the president’s aggressive deportation campaign, according to a whistle-blower complaint by a department lawyer who has since been fired.

The account by the dismissed lawyer, Erez Reuveni, paints a disturbing portrait of his final three weeks on the front lines of the Trump administration’s legal efforts to ship immigrants overseas, often with little notice or recourse. In Mr. Reuveni’s telling, Mr. Bove used an expletive as he discussed disregarding court orders, and other top law enforcement officials showed themselves ready to stonewall judges or lie to them to get their way.

Mr. Reuveni’s account, which was reviewed by The New York Times, was filed to lawmakers and the Justice Department inspector general on Tuesday, just one day before Mr. Bove is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a nomination to a federal appeals court. Mr. Reuveni was a career lawyer at the Justice Department for nearly 15 years until April, when he appeared in a federal court in Maryland and expressed concern that the administration had mistakenly deported a migrant to a megaprison in El Salvador. Mr. Reuveni was put on administrative leave a day later and ultimately fired.

President Trump and his aides have labeled Mr. Reuveni a disgruntled and disobedient former employee, and are likely to amplify those criticisms in response to his decision to become a whistle-blower. The filing, however, suggests a copious trail of emails, texts and phone records would support his version of events, and notes that he had diligently defended controversial policies of the first Trump administration.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/justice-department-emil-bove-trump-deportations-reuveni.html

Rachel Maddow posted a gift link on her BlueSky which is how I was able to read.

[kysrsoze]

1. When this is over, Bove and others are going to do time

Same thing happened last time around… a few dozen wound up in prison for breaking the law on behalf of this jackass.

[malaise]

2. The Nixon gang will look small to these scumbags

Rec

[SARose]

3. Trump federal court nominee Bove to testify Wednesday

HAILEY FUCHS
06/23/2025, 2:03PM ET

Emil Bove will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for his nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump nominated Bove, his principal associate deputy attorney general and former criminal defense attorney, to the federal bench in May, after Bove’s monthslong tenure at the Department of Justice implementing some of the most controversial Trump administration moves at DOJ. In his capacity at the department, he has helmed the dismissal of federal corruption charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and helped terminate staffers who aided cases tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Snip

Last week, Whitehouse asked DOJ for a host of documents about Bove’s work at the Department, including those related to his dismissal of charges against Adams. The decision to end the Adams case — which coincided with Adams’ commitment to cooperate with the administration on immigration enforcement at the Rikers jail — also shepherded the resignation of a number of DOJ attorneys.

More

Uh that’s a hell to the nope! Thanks for bringing this up.👍

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Trump wants to put this asshole on the court

This asshole should never become a judge

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. Deadline: Legal Blog-The case against Trump lawyer Emil Bove being a judge somehow just got stronger

New allegations further call into question the federal appeals court nominee’s character. He was already undeserving of a lifetime judicial appointment.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/emil-bove-trump-doj-judge-nomination-rcna214722

The case against Emil Bove becoming a federal judge was already unusually strong. The Donald Trump defense lawyer-turned-Trump Justice Department official’s handling of the Eric Adams case alone is grounds enough to question his temperament as a lawyer, much less as a judge.

But ahead of his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, yet more information has emerged that further puts Bove’s character at issue. As first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday and confirmed by NBC News, Bove told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders to carry out the president’s deportation campaign.

The Times reported that the whistleblower letter — which the outlet linked in its report — came from Erez Reuveni, a longtime government lawyer who was fired after failing to toe the party line in court. The Times report summarizes the letter, noting that Reuveni describes “three instances in which senior Justice Department officials engaged in wrongdoing by ignoring court orders, presenting legal arguments with no basis in law, misrepresenting facts to the courts, and directing him in one instance to misstate facts in violation of his ‘legal and ethical duties as an officer of the court.’” Reuveni was fired after declining to push the administration’s claim that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the government illegally sent to El Salvador, was a terrorist.

Separately, in the context of litigation over the Alien Enemies Act and the administration’s violation of a court order against deportation flights, Reuveni described a meeting during which Bove “stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f--- you’ and ignore any such court order.”.....

On the other side of the ledger, consider that Reuveni is hardly the first DOJ lawyer to find themselves on the opposite side of Bove while attempting to defend the rule of law. Recall Bove’s handling of the Adams affair, which even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board said “doesn’t inspire confidence.” Bove led the DOJ’s attempt to push through a shady quid pro quo dismissal of the New York City mayor’s criminal case. A federal judge rejected Bove’s quest, but the failed hatchet job sparked a rash of resignations by government lawyers who declined to do his dirty work.

And it’s worth stressing that these lawyers aren’t left-wing saboteurs who were lying in wait to catch Bove subverting the rule of law. Reuveni won accolades from the department during the first Trump administration, and he was apparently entrusted at a high level during the second administration — until he became inconvenient to Bove and the rest of the DOJ brass. Likewise, the most high-profile resignations of federal prosecutors in the Adams affair boasted traditional Republican connections like clerkships with GOP-appointed justices.