The Cowardice of Senate Democrats Made Emil Bove's Confirmation Possible - Jay Willis @ Balls and Strikes

[In It to Win It]

Balls and Strikes

On Tuesday evening, the Senate voted to confirm Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorney-turned-Justice Department hatchetman, to a life-tenured judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Bove first made headlines for firing dozens of January 6 prosecutors shortly after Trump took office, parroting the president’s description of these cases as a “grave national injustice.” According to multiple whistleblowers, in March, Bove told his Justice Department subordinates that they might need to say “fuck you” to judges who were attempting to slow the White House’s various efforts to disappear noncitizens to foreign gulags. These whistleblower allegations should not be confused with separate whistleblower allegations that Bove lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his role in the dismissal of criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams—a stunt so cartoonishly corrupt that a half-dozen federal prosecutors resigned in protest.

To the best of my knowledge, Bove’s confirmation thus makes him the first-ever federal judge who is most famous for profanely asserting that a Republican president is free to ignore federal judges who have the audacity to issue orders he does not like.

Bove was opposed by several prominent conservative legal activists, more than 80 former judges, and more than 900 former Department of Justice attorneys, who in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee called Bove’s confirmation “intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice.” Yet 50 Senate Republicans, to whom this description evidently does not apply, nevertheless did as they were told. Maine Senator Susan Collins and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski voted no, along with all 47 Senate Democrats.

Last year, Democrats could have used their Senate majority to confirm someone very different to fill the seat: Adeel Mangi, a law firm partner whom President Joe Biden nominated in November 2023. But in the months that followed, as Republicans pushed an unhinged narrative that Mangi, who would have been the first-ever Muslim federal appeals court judge, was a cop-hating terrorist sympathizer, a handful of Democratic senators began to waver. The nomination then hung in procedural limbo for nearly a year until Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, which effectively killed Mangi’s chances at confirmation. As a result, the judgeship that could have been Adeel Mangi’s is now occupied by Bove, a smirking bootlicker whose primary qualification for the job is his willingness to do whatever Mister Trump wants.

Emil Bove's confirmation was only possible because Democrats caved to a vile right-wing smear campaign of Adeel Mangi, who would have been the first Muslim appeals court judge, when Biden nominated him for the same seat last year. Absolutely disgraceful. Bove's confirmation is on them, too.

— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) 2025-07-30T01:28:02.616Z

The way Senate Democrats—Catherine Cortez Masto, Jacky Rosen, and Joe Manchin, who opposed him, and leadership, who waved the white flag on his nomination—treated Mangi should follow them the rest of their careers. Do not talk to me about how bad Bove is when you gifted his seat to Trump yourself.

— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) 2025-07-30T01:33:36.847Z

I can't stress enough how specious the allegations against Mangi were—egregiously Islamophobic, and also easily debunked with like three minutes of Googling. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen and Joe Manchin simply couldn't be bothered to put in the effort. ballsandstrikes.org/nominations/...

— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) 2025-07-30T01:39:01.904Z

My request of people who think I am too critical of Democrats is to simply *read the details* of the right-wing smear campaign against Adeel Mangi, whom Republicans tarred as anti-Semitic and “anti-police,” and tell me Dems were right to cave to this. inthesetimes.com/article/adee...

— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) 2025-07-30T03:11:06.445Z

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. America is fucked, deal with it

Oh and by the way, you understand the reason they’re cutting all of the federal workers isn’t to cut expenses to the government, it’s so they can steal the money, duh.

PS absolutely none of this happens if people on the left don’t trash Hillary to the point of convincing hundreds of thousands probably millions there was no point in voting at all

[emulatorloo]

2. Every Democrat voted against Bove today. I understand yr author is upset Manchin's behavior LAST YEAR

But Manchin’s not in the Senate anymore and he was never a typical Democrat, and I find this piece kinda over-the-top hyperbolic.

Just because Manchin was a coward yesterday doesn’t mean all Democrats in the Senate today are cowards. They all voted against Bove and apparently convinced a couple Republicans to vote against Bove as well.


I get it is very very trendy right now on DU to shit on Congressional Democrats. So I’m sure you’ll get plenty of recs.

I’m also pretty sure a lot of posters who rec it will assume this happened TODAY, as I don’t think everyone will read the wall of text from your author in yr OP.



Here’s a report of what actually transpired today.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143504061

[W_HAMILTON]

3. Even worse, it's slamming all Democrats for the actions of just two + one ex-Democrat.

[In It to Win It]

4. In this particular case, I think the failure of the (2 Dems + 1 ex Dem) to confirm Biden's nominee belongs to the party

Governing is a team sport. The whole team wins or loses together. You need the team to confirm nominees, and a few teammates failed the team and caused the whole team to lose this one seat.

[emulatorloo]

9. Nope - Manchin + those 2 behavior last year doesn't justify your author's smear of Senate Democrats today

Everyone here knows about Manchin. Your author’s attempt to claim Manchin represents the entire Democratic Party is specious at best.

[In It to Win It]

10. If our party can't whip the votes to confirm a nominee by our party's president, then it's a failure of the party

It wasn't just Manchin. If it only Manchin, this particular vacancy on the 3rd Circuit would have been filled by our party.

Our party in the Senate (all of them) failed to fill this seat when they had the chance.

[emulatorloo]

15. We're obviously not gonna agree. I'm not going to blame Bove's confirmation on Democrats as only

Republicans voted to confirm him.

I really understand your disappointment w DINO Manchin and his cohorts antics from 2024. I really despise Manchin. And I can see why you’d find this author’s article cathartic.

However I’m not going to blame Democrats for what Republicans did today in 2025.

I think that’s what the author is up to. Blaming Democrats for what Republicans do.

As I said in another post, I believe it is rage-bait designed to fuel unwarranted hatred of Democrats.

Just in time for the 2026 midterms.

[In It to Win It]

16. I don't blame them for, specifically, Bove being confirmed. I blame them for leaving the seat open in the first place.

Bove could have been confirmed to any other seat. The fact that we left a federal appeals court seat open is what I blame them for. That is the disappointment, especially, given that they had the opportunity and time to fill it. That is the party failure.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. Cortez Masto and Rosen are still in the Senate, sitting as Democrats.

It's their fault; and a strong Democratic leadership would have forced them to drop their Islamophobia and behave like decent senators.

It seems disingenuous to keep repeating Manchin's name, but to ignore what 2 Democrats did.

As for "just in time for the 2026 midterms" - this is the middle of 2025. The author wrote it as soon as the disgusting Bove got his confirmation. The Senate Democrats sat on Mangi's nomination for a year.

[emulatorloo]

21. Disingenuos? Nah, I'm not that familiar with either of them. Manchin is a household name so neither

of those names are on the tip of my tongue.

I’m glad you like the author’s piece.

I think it is anti-Democratic propaganda. The number of ‘snarl’ words he uses plus his self-inoculating ‘complaint’ that some think he’s ‘too hard on Democrats’ are red flags to me.

On the very day when every Democrat in the Senate voted against Bove, he writes a tirade about the shit behavior of Manchin, Cortes Masto, and Rosen last year.

And yet so strangely silent on the Republicans who actually voted to confirm Bove yesterday.

Midterm’s coming sooner than you think. IMHO DU’s becoming absolutely obsessed with half-truth hit pieces shitting on Democrats. The party def does deserve some criticism, but I think that this person is acting in bad faith.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. I don't think "not being on the tip of your tongue" is an excuse

If those Democrats had voted to confirm the candidate of the Democratic President Joe Biden, we wouldn't now have this shithead in an important legal position.

The author's recent work:
Angus King Says He Voted to Confirm This Anti-Choice Trump Nominee Because Josh Hawley Asked Nicely [Updated]
The Conservative Justices Are Too Cowardly to Say What They Mean
Ketanji Brown Jackson Is Telling the Truth About the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court’s Majority Is Playing Noah Feldman Like a Fiddle
The Republican Justices Are Simply Doing What the Republican President Asks
Sam Alito Is Giving His Fellow Bigots Everything They Want
and so on. It's clear that he is in favour of honest, liberal judges - and that's why he thinks those 2 Democrats should not have opposed Biden and the party to vote with Republicans. There's nothing "half-truthed" about what he's written. It's not "in bad faith". He's a better liberal than Cortez Masto or Rosen, that's all.

He wrote about Mangi when it was just Republicans smearing him:
https://ballsandstrikes.org/nominations/adeel-mangi-gross-smear/
And then he wrote again, in March 2024, when Cortez Masto decided to be a coward:
https://ballsandstrikes.org/nominations/adeel-mangi-democrats-abandonment/

I don't think that senators get to pretend that their past decisions can be conveniently ignored when the consequences are severe. Even if they have a 'D' next to their name, if their decision was to oppose the party.

Sadly, Cortez Masto can't be primaried until 2028. And Rosen until 2030 - she got away with this crap in the 2024 election.

[emulatorloo]

24. Here's a blog account by Steve Benen that's not so inflammatory

I think it is fairer as well:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220523576

He goes over the history and notes that if two more Republicans had defied MAGA Bove would not have been confirmed.


————————
You wrote:

It seems disingenuous to keep repeating Manchin's name, but to ignore what 2 Democrats did.

I don't think "not being on the tip of your tongue" is an excuse.

I don’t like the article, you like it. I’ve given reasons why I don’t. You’ve given reasons why you do. I understand why you like it and it is your prerogative.

I really wish you wouldn’t try to make it personal with these dark insinuations you’re making about me.

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Steve Benen doesn't even mention Mangi, or that the seat became vacant over a year before the end of the Biden term

Now that's what I'd call a "half-truth" - it leaves out very important context. 2 Democrats and an Independent blocked the Democratic nominee.

[travelingthrulife]

23. Exactly. Blame the right people...Republicans.

[tritsofme]

29. Then Biden also has some blame to share, for sending a nominee with insufficient support for confirmation.

[In It to Win It]

30. Yes. I agree. He's part of the team.

[W_HAMILTON]

13. Since when do those on the left ever fall in line like Republican cultists?

Why blame current Democratic leadership over something that has been an issue for decades now, regardless of who the leaders have been?

[In It to Win It]

17. I blame the team, the entire team.

The game has changed from decades ago. Them playing by the same rules "for decades now" is the problem... and they deserving of blame for that.

[emulatorloo]

5. Yeah. Pure rage-bait from the author, Jay Willis

- Smear all Democrats in today’s Senate w the actions of three conservative Dems LAST YEAR
- literally ignore the fact that only Republicans voted to confirm Bove today.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

12. SO sick of it

[Mike 03]

27. I'm sick of it too. It's not just among Dems, every goddamn morning on Bloomberg Radio

one of the anchors will say rhetorically, "Where are the Democrats" or "The Democrats can't seem to pull it together and oppose this" but I know for a fucking fact they never look to see what Democrats are doing, nor do they ever remind listeners that Democrats have extremely little power at this moment in history.

[displacedvermoter]

28. I recd it and am well aware what the time line of the events are, and read the text

History is made up of a lot of threads, some brand new (like yesterday), some are a year old (like the vote discussed above), some are 16 years old (we must look forward and not backwards - President Obama). Taken together there has been a history of Party leaders and elected officials showing a lack of steadfastness, I understand the OP's point.

[walkingman]

6. It is very frustrating and it is an example of why our party is now in such a mess. As a lifelong

Democrat, it is hard for me to understand my party sometimes.

[emulatorloo]

7. EVERY DEMOCRAT IN THE SENATE VOTED AGAINST BOVE'S CONFIRMATION TODAY

Sorry to yell, but that seems to have gotten lost.

Only Republicans voted to confirm Bove

[walkingman]

8. I was replying to the OP which mentioned that we had a chance to fill this lifetime appointment.

but failed to do so. There is no excuse for that.

I appreciate today's vote but that was not the topic.

[emulatorloo]

11. Most everyone on DU despised Manchin for blocking Biden's agenda. OP's author shits on all Democrats

for Manchin’s behavior. Many called him a DINO.

I personally don’t think that it right for this author to smear all Democrats with Manchin’s behavior.

Especially since no Dems voted for Bove today.

Of course YMMV

[onenote]

19. And if that seat had been filled Trump would've nominated Bove to a different one

Last edited Wed Jul 30, 2025, 10:16 AM - Edit history (1)

There is another vacancy in the third circuit -- one that arose in January 2025 -- and all Bove would have to do is establish residency in Delaware and he could be nominated and confirmed to fill that vacancy.

Willis seems to be unaware of that obvious fact

[RockCreek]

14. KnR

[Paladin]

20. Thanks for nothing, chickenshit Democratic leadership. (nt)

[Oopsie Daisy]

26. This was a foregone conclusion. He was always going to be confirmed.

I knew it wouldn't take very long at all before people started blaming Democratic leadership and hurling insults (like the "chickenshit" one you elevated this discussion with.) So, tell us... what exactly did you want the Democrats to do? What good purpose is accomplished by characterizing Democratic leadership in this way? Does it solve anything? Does it promote unity? Does it make the party stronger? Does it help to convince people to support and vote for Democrats?

What exactly is the goal here?

[onenote]

31. Some inconvenient facts for Willis and those on DU slagging the Senate Democrats

When Joe Biden left office, the Senate, despite the absolute barest of majorities, had managed to confirm 45 appellate court nominations. It even confirmed one after the election -- it also confirmed over 20 district court judges after the election but before the new repub majority senate was sworn in. When the repub majority senate took office, there were only three appeals court vacancies.

Sorry to rain on the negativ-os parade.

[In It to Win It]

32. To me, none of that takes away from the fact that they had the chance to fill this particular seat and didn't.

Yes, they confirmed some judges and that's great. They deserve praise for that.

We can compartmentalize.

They deserve blame for actually having a nominee, having the time to vote on him, and still leaving the seat vacant. As another commenter mentioned earlier, Biden may be deserving of blame for nominating someone that didn't have the sufficient support to be confirmed. I don't disagree with that thought.

Both thoughts can exist and be true at the same time.

In today's politics, you don't leave crumbs on the table. You eat as much as you can.

[republianmushroom]

33. We are about to get what we deserve.