Emil Bove III, a senior Justice Department official, proposed defying court orders to satisfy President Donald Trump’s extreme mass deportation plan, according to a department whistleblower.
In a 27-page letter submitted via his attorneys to the House and Senate judiciary committees and the DOJ’s inspector general, the whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, recalled Bove’s suggestions to defy court orders. Reuveni was the acting deputy director of the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation before his termination in April.
In the meeting with DOJ officials on March 14, Bove indicated that Trump would soon invoke the Alien Enemies Act so that planes deporting migrants without due process would take off that weekend. Reuveni’s account – first reported by The New York Times – says that Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what.”
With the possibility of court orders halting the takeoffs, Bove suggested, “that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f**k you’ and ignore any such court order.” Reuveni says that he and others in the room were “stunned,” and exchanged “awkward, nervous glances.”
Bove served as acting attorney deputy general until March 2025. In that time he oversaw the dismissal of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ federal corruption charges, fired prosecutors who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6 Capital riot, and pressured the FBI to reveal the names of the agents who investigated the riots.
Reuveni was increasingly shut out of discussions and asserts “that senior D.O.J. leadership withheld information” from its own lawyers, resulting “in violation of a court order.”
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Reuveni’s account explicitly mentions three different cases where senior officials at the Justice Department attempted to dodge court orders, including the March 15 deportation of 100 Venezuelans to a megaprison in El Salvador, 17 immigrants being sent to a U.S. military facility in Guantánamo Bay and then El Salvador, and the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
In the case of the latter, Reuveni was told to sign an appeal brief making a claim of terrorism against Abrego Garcia, which Reuveni argues was “contrary to law, frivolous and untrue.”
Mr. Reuveni told his supervisor, “I didn’t sign up to lie.” He was fired the following week.
Bove was nominated for a seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in May and is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Reuveni’s account was made public on Tuesday.
If confirmed, Bove would hold a lifetime appointment to the Philadelphia-based seat.
Former FBI agent Asha Rangappa said the allegations against Bove should be “treated as something akin to Watergate, or Iran Contra” in a post on Bluesky.
“The administration was attempting to do something they *knew* was illegal (anticipating the courts saying as much), and then trying to COVER IT UP,” Rangappa wrote.
