Senate Judiciary Panel Advances Bove, Pirro Nominations After Democrats Walk Out in Protest

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced on July 17 the nominations of Jeanine Pirro to be U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and Emil Bove to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit—despite Democrats walking out of the meeting. It was Bove’s nomination that caused the most consternation from the Democrats. The 12–0 vote on Bove’s nomination was along GOP lines, as Democrats stormed out of the meeting and therefore did not vote. The Democrats left in protest of Bove’s nomination, as Bove, who is currently the principal associate deputy attorney general, has come under fire for allegedly saying that the Justice Department would ignore court orders on stopping deportations of Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador by invoking the Alien Enemies Act....