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The Republican-controlled Senate was always going to confirm Emil Bove to the federal bench. That this outcome was all but guaranteed the day President Donald Trump nominated Bove, regardless of what came before his nomination and what would come afterward, highlights a difference in how Republicans and Democrats exercise power.
To understand the story of Bove’s confirmation Tuesday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, we must first take stock of Democrats’ failure last year to confirm Adeel Mangi to that same court. Enough Democratic senators bought into a smear campaign against the Biden nominee — which the Anti-Defamation League called “inappropriate and prejudicial”— that he never made it onto the bench.
When Democrats controlled the Senate, they declined to confirm Mangi due to a fake controversy; by contrast, the GOP-controlled Senate just confirmed Bove despite several real controversies that featured ethical issues prior to his nomination that were bolstered by whistleblowers and others afterward.
While Bove’s confirmation is shocking in some respects, it would’ve been almost more surprising had Republicans declined to exercise their power to push him through in a 50-49 vote. Sitting a step below the Supreme Court, the 3rd Circuit covers New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The point is not solely that Mangi’s confirmation could’ve prevented Bove from taking a 3rd Circuit seat. It’s that Republicans would’ve made sure to put Bove on the bench elsewhere, if that’s what the president wanted and they had the power to do it.
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