At last Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) questioned Emil Bove, nominee to be to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, and current Deputy AG.
00:00Good to be with you. Thank you for being here. Thank you to your family for being here,
00:03colleagues from the office, the Department of Justice that are here to support you.
00:07We are excited about your nomination and thank President Trump for making this important
00:13nomination. I'm guessing from some of my colleagues on this hearing that they forgot that
00:24there are some Democratic judges that were escorting people out of the courtroom in secrecy
00:31because they didn't believe with what law enforcement was trying to achieve and some
00:36Democratic appointed judges that are ignoring the Supreme Court orders at the moment. The
00:43hypocrisy continues to shock me. I've been here a hot second on this Judiciary Committee and
00:47I think it's important that we all go back to the ideal judge is one that is impartial,
00:57that has integrity and understands that their job is to apply the laws given to them through
01:03the representatives of the people faithfully and without prejudice. And we are very excited
01:11about your nomination. And personally, let me just say, as a former federal prosecutor myself,
01:19I was grateful that someone with that background that both had extensive experience in federal courts,
01:31not only prosecuting within the district court, but in appeals as well, was being nominated. I believe
01:40those that are charged with the responsibility of taking cases brought to them by law enforcement and they
01:52are charged with pursuing justice in a court of law, which may mean someone's liberty is taken away.
02:01That that is very heavy responsibility. And one that after they are charged with that does not take lightly.
02:08And I heard you previously explaining how you took that very seriously. And you believe that justice is sometimes the consideration of making sure it's not heavy handed when it wasn't intended to be.
02:26I thought it was interesting. One of my colleagues remarks, they thought it was important to point out that someone described you as a partisan that wields the law as a weapon.
02:38When in fact, you have spent a lot of time fighting against that. As many of us watched in horror as the justice system was turned into a political weapon.
02:52And I thought I might just give you and I wanted to go back to who you are in your background. You've got thrown into the limelight in a very politically charged situation, not of your own making,
03:07but one that you were willing to fight against. And prior to that, I think it's important that not just my colleagues, but the American people understand your background.
03:19You clerked for a federal judge. You clerked a district court judge. You clerked for an appellate judge. You served as an intern in different capacities.
03:30You were the lead prosecutor in numerous federal trials. I would like for you to take a moment and tell us how your background would repudiate
03:44all of the aspersions and accusations that have been charged against you this morning. Because again, as someone who has also served in that capacity,
03:57where you're given the responsibility to on behalf of the people, on behalf of the United States of America, seek justice and potentially removing, taking away someone's liberty.
04:08Tell us about your background and how that bears on your respect for the court, its need to be impartial, and your background and how that will prepare you to faithfully apply the rule of law.
04:21Thank you, Senator. I appreciate the kind words. It's, I believe, a very solemn obligation to accept a position on the federal bench, especially an appellate position,
04:36because of the obligation to enforce the rule of law without fear of favor and declare what the law is, but exercise restraint and not make policy decisions.
04:48And I think that I'm equipped to do that because over the course of my career, as you suggested, I have studied just about every single angle of a courtroom as a paralegal, a law clerk, a trial lawyer, and an appellate lawyer.
05:04If I were lucky enough to be confirmed, I would understand as an appellate judge what things look like at a trial.
05:10But I also understand, from having been inside an appellate judge's chamber, having been privileged to do that, how the appellate decision-making process can work and what it's like to have to build consensus with a panel and a group of people.
05:25And I think all those things would sort of bear on my judgment and my practice if I'm lucky enough to be confirmed.
05:32But I think really the most important thing is the ability to exercise independent judgment in the face of great scrutiny and criticism.
05:41And I am doing my best to explain why I've endeavored to do that throughout my career today.
05:46And I think there's one moment in my life where I was really called upon to do that and make a hard decision that I'm glad I did.
05:54And that was to join Mr. Blanche to help represent the president at a time when my friends and even some people in my family, my work colleagues, told me that there was every reason to think I would get fired, I would be bankrupt, we would be indicted.
06:12All manner of evil and negative consequences were sort of foisted and thrown at Todd and I regularly as we had to make a decision that many others didn't have the courage to make to stand up for what was right.
06:27And people comment on that as some kind of political decision.
06:30That's not what that was in the summer of 2023.
06:34At that time, for me, and I think for Todd, that was a decision to fight for what was right and fight for the rule of law.
06:42And if I'm fortunate enough to become a judge, I will abide by that standard, applying the rule of law every single day.
