NonilexJul 10, 2025

Internal #DOJ messages bolster claim that #Trump judicial nominee spoke of defying #court orders

#EmilBove, the deputy US Attorney General who has been nominated to be an appellate #judge, is the subject of #whistleblower allegations.

A fired DOJ attorney has provided #Congress with a trove of emails & text messages to corroborate his claims that a controversial Trump judicial nominee—top DOJ official Emil Bove—crudely discussed defying court orders.

#law #judiciary
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/10/emil-bove-whistleblower-documents-00446225

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

The newly-released messages reinforce claims by #whistleblower #ErezReuveni that #EmilBove played a key role in a decision by #Trump admin #immigration ofcls to turn scores of #Venezuelan immigrants over to #ElSalvador despite a US judge’s #CourtOrder not to do so.

The messages show increasing alarm among #DOJ lawyers that the admin had in fact defied court orders & that some ofcls…could face #sanctions for misleading courts.

#law #corruption #judiciary #rendition #AmericanAutocracy

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

…The disclosures to the #Senate #Judiciary Cmte, requested by the panel’s #Democrats & shared w/POLITICO, come as the committee prepares to vote on & likely advance #EmilBove’s nomination to a seat on the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove’s brief but rocky tenure at the #DOJ appears unlikely to derail his nomination, particularly after Sen #ThomTillis (R-NC), a key vote on the panel, suggested Wednesday he was likely to back #Trump’s pick.

#law #corruption #AmericanAutocracy

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

But the new documents [attached] offer a rare glimpse inside sensitive decision-making moments that have defined the #Trump admin’s fraught relationship w/ the #courts. And they show that #EmilBove — who has faced scrutiny for his role in unraveling the prosecution of NYC Mayor #EricAdams & firing #DOJ officials involved in the prosecution of #Jan6 defendants — has been at the center of nearly every explosive #legal battle of Trump’s second term so far.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25995043-07-07-2025-reuveni-batch-2-index-and-evidence-redacted-final/

#law #judiciary

07-07-2025 - Reuveni Batch 2 Index and Evidence (REDACTED FINAL)

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

…Many of the messages pertain to an extraordinary showdown on March 15, when #ImmigrantRights lawyers persuaded a federal judge in Washington, James #Boasberg, to order the admin to halt an in-progress #deportation [#rendition] of 130 #Venezuelans to #ElSalvador. Boasberg ordered that planes containing the men, whom #Trump deemed “alien enemies” under a wartime #law, be turned around, if necessary, & in any event that the men not be handed over to the Salvadoran govt.

#EmilBove #judiciary

Show threadNonilex

Just prior to Boasberg’s decision, #DOJ officials worried that the effort might be stopped by a #court. That’s when, according to #ErezReuveni, #EmilBove told colleagues that they might have to consider telling the #courts “fuck you.”

After #Boasberg’s decision, Reuveni sent a text message to an unidentified colleague referring back to Bove’s alleged comment: “Guess we are going to say ‘fuck you’ to the court. Super,” he wrote. The colleague responded: “Well, Pamela Jo Bondi is. Not you.”

#law

Jul 10, 2025 at 3:51pmWeb
Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

The messages show that in the hours after #Boasberg’s ruling, #ErezReuveni repeatedly relayed to colleagues that the #immigrants covered by the judge’s order should not be turned over to #ElSalvador. And he later expressed concern that they seemed to have been handed over anyway.

In one of the newly-disclosed emails, the acting head of #DOJ’s Civil Division, Yaakov Roth, told Reuveni & other ofcls that the men were unloaded based on #legal advice given by #EmilBove.

#law #judiciary #rendition

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

The email indicates #EmilBove said it was OK to do so because the flights had left US airspace before #Boasberg, who initially delivered his order orally, followed up with a written order….

“I have been told…that the principal associate deputy attorney general advised DHS last night that the deplaning of the flights that had departed US airspace prior to the court’s minute order was permissible under the law & the court’s order,” Roth wrote to Reuveni & 2 DOJ colleagues on March 16….

#law

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

Judge #Boasberg …has rejected that interpretation of his orders & found probable cause to initiate #contempt proceedings over potential defiance of his rulings. That process has been halted for now by an appeals court.

The messages also revealed tension between #DOJ attorneys & their counterparts at #DHS as they sought to mount a defense of the #Trump admin’s #deportation policies in court.

#EmilBove #law #corruption #judiciary #immigration #rendition #AmericanAutocracy

Show threadNonilexJul 10, 2025

After a different federal judge sharply limited #deportations to “third countries” — places where the immigrants have no prior ties — the #DOJ pressed #DHS ofcls to clarify their view of the judge’s decision to ensure that their legal arguments were consistent.

“My take on these emails is that DOJ leadership & DOJ litigators don’t agree on the strategy. Please keep DHS out of it,” shot back James Percival, a snr DHS adviser.

#EmilBove #law #corruption #judiciary #rendition #AmericanAutocracy