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Floor Speech

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Mr. KIM. Mr. President, I rise today to voice my strong opposition to Emil Bove's nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Bove is unqualified, unfit, and undermines public trust in our justice system. Every report makes one thing clear: He puts politics over justice, loyalty to Donald Trump above all else. We cannot give someone like that a lifetime appointment.

I rise because more than 9 million people that I represent--the people of New Jersey--fall under the jurisdiction of the Third Circuit. This nomination has a direct impact on their lives, their futures, and their rights. The people of New Jersey deserve better. They have had enough of corruption and political gamesmanship and what we see so clearly to be a system rigged for the well-connected and the well-off.

Let me explain why this matters. In times when so many feel the system is working against them, courts serve as a critical check on unchecked power. Judges matter because their decisions expand or restrict basic rights. They shape the fate of immigrants seeking a better life, influence our economy, and they determine our safety and future.

The courts should reflect the promise of America--a nation where the rules apply equally no matter your wealth or connections, where fairness guides justice. Emil Bove represents the opposite. He is part of a broken system where loyalty to politics and political power trumps fairness and the law, where connections and corruption undermine justice.

Mr. Bove's resume includes work as an assistant U.S. attorney, prestigious clerkships, experience in some of the world's most powerful law firms, but that is not why he was nominated. He was chosen for one singular reason, which is his unwavering loyalty to Donald Trump.

Throughout his career, Mr. Bove has shown he is ethically unfit to be a public servant. He fired career prosecutors, including those working on January 6 investigations, simply because they would not follow politically motivated orders. He openly instructed subordinates to defy court rulings to continue deporting people without due process and threatened, fired, and publicly disparaged those who refused. This is not public service; this is corruption disguised as loyalty.

The pillars of our judicial system are objectivity and independence. They ensure that justice is blind to politics. But Mr. Bove has shown contempt for those pillars.

Over 900 former DOJ attorneys have signed a letter urging this Senate to reject his nomination, calling him unfit and unethical.

The Department of Justice must stand for law, not partisan agendas. And now we are asked to trust a nominee who has proven willing to defy the law and undermine the courts themselves. The answer must be no.

Let me address a particularly troubling experience that underscores the corruption that Mr. Bove represents when he sought to dismiss the case regarding New York Mayor Adams. This is not just politics as usual; this is corruption that threatens the integrity of the very justice system Mr. Bove seeks to join, the kind of dealmaking, backroom, political gamesmanship that the people of New Jersey are sick and tired of. And I say this not just as a Senator but as someone who challenged New Jersey's political status quo in Federal district court and ultimately before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, this very court.

Approving this nomination sends a message that corruption and loyalty to power trumps qualifications and fairness. That is not the future I want for my children, my State, or this country.

It doesn't have to be this way. That future is in the hands of this very body, the U.S. Senate. New Jersey and this country deserve better than Emil Bove. America deserves a justice system it can trust.

Let us vote no on Bove's nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

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