Did you know that Truthout is a nonprofit and independently funded by readers like you? If you value what we do, please support our work with a donation.
A conservative United States federal judge was seen attending a political rally hosted by President Donald Trump this week, prompting a nonprofit watchdog group to file an ethics complaint against him.
Judge Emil Bove, who serves on the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, was nominated by Trump in June, and narrowly approved by a deeply divided Senate in a 50-49 vote the following month. Prior to his nomination, he was a criminal defense attorney for Trump and served briefly in the Department of Justice (DOJ).
On Tuesday night, Trump appeared in Pennsylvania in front of an audience of his supporters. Though his speech was meant to focus on the economy, he delved into multiple unrelated topics, at one point going on a racist tirade against Democratic members of Congress and insinuating that he may attempt to run for an illegal third term as president.
Bove — whose jurisdiction covers the Keystone State — was in attendance at the rally, and was confronted by MS NOW reporter Vaughn Hillyard, who asked what the federal judge was doing there. Bove remarked that he was “just here as a citizen coming to watch the president speak.”
It is highly unorthodox for a sitting federal judge to attend political rallies of this nature. Indeed, Canon 5 of the United States Code of Conduct for federal judges states that members of the judiciary “should refrain from political activity.”
“A judge should not…attend or purchase a ticket for a dinner or other event sponsored by a political organization or candidate,” Part A, Section 3 of that canon states.
“A judge should not engage in any other political activity,” Part C stipulates.
On Wednesday, Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, a nonprofit dedicated to enacting reforms to ensure fairness and transparency within the judiciary, filed a complaint regarding Bove’s presence at the rally to Third Circuit Court Chief Judge Michael Chagares.
Roth recognized that judges are human, and conceded that it would be impossible to prohibit them from some activities — including “attending an event at which a President is speaking.” But Bove’s actions went beyond that standard, he said in his complaint, as the rally in Pennsylvania “was a far cry from the State of the Union or a state dinner” based on the “abject partisanship” of the subject matter.
“It should have been obvious to Judge Bove, either at the start of the rally or fairly close to it, that this was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of,” Roth wrote.
There will be questions from reasonable and unbiased observers as to whether Judge Bove’s attendance imperils his impartiality when assigned cases in which Trump is on either side of the ‘v.’ This question of recusal is not something I wish to address here directly, but I do want to make the point that the mere discussion speaks to the impropriety of the judge’s attendance.
Concluding his complaint, Roth called for Bove to be formally admonished for his actions and to face “other discipline” as determined by the statutes of the code of conduct.
Other observers also blasted Bove’s unusual attendance at Trump’s rally.
Scott Horton, contributing editor of Harper’s Magazine, noted that Bove has also engaged in conversations with Trump administration officials, making his attendance at the rally even more troubling.
“Bove has also — after being sworn in as a judge on the Third Circuit — been observed visiting Main Justice for consultations with Bondi and Blanche,” Horton wrote on Bluesky. “Grossly unethical conduct.”
Tim O’Brien, senior executive editor for Bloomberg Opinion, noted the significance of Bove attending a rally where Trump discussed running for a third term. Notably, during his Senate Judiciary Committee hearings as a nominee to be a judge, Bove deflected questions on whether Trump has the legal authority to ignore the 22nd Amendment, which limits individuals to two presidential terms.
“As a nominee to the Third Circuit, it would not be appropriate for me to address how this Amendment would apply in an abstract hypothetical scenario,” Bove wrote in his response.
During the rally, Trump, as he has many times before, indicated that he was giving serious consideration to the idea of a third term. “They say I’m not allowed to run. I don’t know what the hell that’s all about,” Trump said, adding, “four more years, 2028.”
“Emil Bove is attending this event and listening to this speech,” O’Brien said in his post.
Press freedom is under attack
As Trump cracks down on political speech, independent media is increasingly necessary.
Truthout produces reporting you won’t see in the mainstream: journalism from the frontlines of global conflict, interviews with grassroots movement leaders, high-quality legal analysis and more.
Our work is possible thanks to reader support. Help Truthout catalyze change and social justice — make a tax-deductible monthly or one-time donation today.