©2026 League of Conservation Voters
The Senate considered President Donald Trump’s nomination of Emil Bove III to serve as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. The 3rd Circuit is one of the nation’s most powerful courts, with jurisdiction over New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the US Virgin Islands. Federal judges serve for life and the laws that protect our environment and democracy need judges who will uphold and enforce them. In his tenure at the deputy attorney general’s office in 2025, Bove allegedly engaged in multiple unprecedented abuses of power. He reportedly led an effort to identify and purge FBI agents and federal prosecutors involved in cases regarding the January 6th insurrection. Bove allegedly pushed a “bargain” to extract public policy concessions from the mayor of New York City in exchange for dropping a corruption prosecution that could be resumed later, leading to resignations in protest by senior Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys in both New York and Washington. Bove dismantled DOJ environmental justice programs and policies, and was likely involved in weaponizing the criminal justice system against Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund recipients. Shortly before his confirmation, a DOJ whistleblower wrote that Bove plotted for the government to defy, circumvent, and lie to federal courts regarding illegal deportations. In all three of these recent and well-documented cases, Bove’s alleged conduct demonstrates a disqualifying degree of bad faith toward the Constitution that all lawyers and all government employees swear to protect. On July 29, the Senate confirmed Bove to be a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit by a vote of 50-49 (Senate roll call vote 448). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters