The US Senate has released a string of text messages and email correspondences that raise questions about the executive branch’s commitment to complying with court orders.
Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the documents, which appear to show that government lawyer Emil Bove directed his colleagues to ignore or mislead courts about President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts.
According to Durbin, the documents show that the Department of Justice (DOJ) misled a federal court and disregarded a court order. “Mr Bove spearheaded this effort, which demanded attorneys violate their ethical duty of candor to the court,” Durbin wrote on social media. Bove, formerly a personal lawyer to President Trump, was recently nominated to serve in a lifetime position as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The released documents appear to corroborate allegations made in a complaint by Erez Reuveni, a Justice Department lawyer who worked under Bove until his dismissal in April. Reuveni alleged that Bove told Justice Department lawyers that they “would need to consider telling the courts ‘f*** you'” if they interfered with Trump’s deportation plans. The complaint also alleges that Bove stressed the importance of deporting immigrants without allowing them to appeal their removal.
In one series of emails, Reuveni responded to a notification that planes bearing deportees under the Alien Enemies Act were still in the air. “The judge specifically ordered us not to remove anyone in the class, and to return anyone in the air,” he wrote back. Despite the court order, the planes landed in El Salvador and delivered their human cargo to a maximum-security prison.
Reuveni underscored the grave dangers posed by an executive branch that he sees as refusing to comply with judicial authority. “The Department of Justice is thumbing its nose at the courts, and putting Justice Department attorneys in an impossible position where they have to choose between loyalty to the agenda of the president and their duty to the court,” he told The New York Times.
The Trump administration has responded with defiance, repeating its claim that Reuveni is simply a “disgruntled employee” lashing out at the employer who fired him. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Reuveni’s allegations are “false claims seeking five minutes of fame.” Bove himself denied ever advising his colleagues to defy a court order.
The Senate is set to decide on Bove’s confirmation to the circuit court in the coming weeks. If he passes the Senate Judiciary Committee, he will face a full vote on the Senate floor. Durbin said that Bove “belongs nowhere near the federal bench” and that the vote will be a “litmus test for Senate Judiciary Republicans”.