The Senate Democrats trying to discredit judicial nominee Emil Bove as a partisan are the same cheerleaders who confirmed the current slate of activist judges complicit in attempts to hobble the Trump Administration.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., slammed Bove in his confirmation hearing this week for previously representing President Donald Trump in court.
“Having earned his stripes as a loyalist to this president, he’s been rewarded with this lifetime nomination,” Durbin dribbled. Yet, not long ago Durbin lauded the profoundly partisan Judge Amir Ali of the District of Columbia federal court.
When Ali was appointed by former President Joe Biden in 2024, it was Durbin who introduced him with glowing praise during his confirmation hearing. Durbin offered one softball question, asking Ali to speak about some of the issues he has worked on when he “brought together unusual political allies.”
Republicans were concerned about Ali’s leadership of the left-leaning MacArthur Justice Center. Ali became a U.S. citizen in 2019. He served on Biden’s 2020 transition team, worked on Biden’s presidential campaign, and had many writings opposing Trump’s policies. He was a member of the Capital Area Muslim Bar Association; Muslim American Judicial Advisory Council; National Arab American Bar Association; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; National Police Accountability Project; and the Native American Bar Association of D.C.
Democrats let him breeze through confirmation without a challenge. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., invoked cloture to force a vote on Ali on Nov. 20, 2024, after Biden had already become a lame duck. The Senate confirmed him on strict party lines, with 50 Democrat votes beating 49 Republicans.
Senators Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Mazie Hirono, D- Hawaii; and Adam “F-bomb” Schiff, D-Calif. all voted to confirm Ali last year, but now they have a problem with Bove?
When the Trump administration put a 90-day pause on sending money to non-government organizations administering foreign aid programs to give the administration time to assure the programs were not wasting money, Ali imposed a Temporary Restraining Order, forcing the administration to restore $2 billion in spending on USAID.
Ali and other judges approved by the same gang of senators have shown bias in their handling of cases involving the Trump Administration, with decisions aimed at stopping the Trump’s agenda most Americans voted for.
Another Biden appointee, Judge Loren AliKhan, was confirmed to the D.C. District Court in 2023. Just days into Trump’s presidency, AliKhan’s appointment was paying off for Democrats when, on Jan. 28, she slapped the Trump Administration with a temporary restraining order in a case about pausing federal payments to nonprofits. Her leftist views were apparent before she was confirmed. Numerous religious groups signed a joint letter to Congress opposing her nomination. She was approved in a tie-breaking vote by former Vice President Kamala Harris. Here again, the senators so worried about partisanship had no concerns about her confirmation.
Biden appointed Judge Angel Kelley of the District Court of Massachusetts in 2021, and she was approved by all Democrats and two Republicans. Kelley deployed a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Trump administration, blocking a U.S. Department of Education plan to slash $600 million in grant money to universities. Kelley spent much of her career as an attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
In an interesting coincidence, despite there being qualified candidates across the entire nation, the autopen president found two federal judge appointees from the same workplace.
Judge Michael Farbiarz served as general counsel for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, 2016-2023 when Biden appointed him to the District Court of New Jersey. He was approved in a 65 to 34 vote. Farbiarz is the judge who released pro-Hamas protester Mahmoud Khalil from jail this month.
The pattern continues in case after partisan case.
Democrats corner the market on partisan judges and go venue shopping for favorable outcomes. They know the place to stop balance from entering the mix is at the confirmation hearing. That is why they are paddling so hard to stop Bove’s confirmation, partnering with the press to smear his reputation.
But the truth is, Bove is experienced, competent, and without glaring issues that should prevent him from being confirmed. As acting deputy assistant attorney general, Bove worked to clean out corruption at the FBI.
Trump won the election; it is his turn to pick judges, and Democrats can’t fight that fact in court.