In a dramatic protest earlier this month, multiple Democratic US senators stormed out of a committee hearing mid-debate.
Only one remained: Senator Cory Booker, who stayed at the Judiciary Committee hearing only to excoriate his Republican colleagues for “trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we’ve had under this presidential administration.”
At the heart of the spectacle was Emil Bove III, Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and his pick for a lifetime position as a federal appeals court judge.
The Senate paved the way for a final vote on his nomination on Tuesday night. He was confirmed to the judgeship in a 50-49 vote.
The president has appointed several personal attorneys and political allies to top posts at the justice department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But he nominated Mr Bove for the Third Circuit Court of
Appeals, where he could conceivably review one of hundreds of lawsuits against the Trump administration.
The lifetime tenure also could extend his influence long after Trump’s term.
Trump has said Mr Bove will “end the Weaponization of Justice.”
But Democrats like Booker, and hundreds of former federal prosecutors, allege that appointing a Trump loyalist for life compromises the judicial system’s integrity.
Mr Bove, however, told US senators at his confirmation hearing in June, “I am not anybody’s henchman.”
“I am not an enforcer. I’m a lawyer from a small town who never expected to be in an arena like this,” said Mr Bove, who was born and raised in upstate New York and attended Georgetown Law School.
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