President Donald Trump’s rally in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday had one notable guest in attendance — Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Emil Bove. Now, multiple legal experts are questioning why a member of the judiciary was in the audience for a rabidly partisan event.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Bove, who was one of Trump’s personal attorneys before ascending to a top position in Trump’s Department of Justice and eventually a judicial post, has been subjected to an official ethics complaint for attending the rally. While Bove didn’t speak or stand behind Trump during his speech, he was spotted in the crowd by an MS NOW reporter and told them he was “just here as a citizen coming to watch the president speak.”
However, Trump’s rally pivoted sharply from its stated topic of addressing the high cost of living to the president’s typical rally fare, like railing against immigrants from underdeveloped countries. During one part of the speech, Trump attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and repeated a debunked conspiracy theory while suggesting the four-term congresswoman and naturalized U.S. citizen should be deported.
In the complaint, which was filed by activist Gabe Roth of the group Save The Court, Bove is accused of violating rules all judges are bound to follow, which include a prohibition on anything that could be seen as an “appearance of impropriety,” and a ban on “political activity.” Third Circuit Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares (an appointee of George W. Bush) will now decide whether to dismiss the complaint or appoint a committee to investigate it further, which could potentially result in Bove being formally censured or not being assigned to any new cases for a period of time.
“This was a highly charged, highly political event that no federal judge should have been within shouting distance of,” Roth’s complaint read.
Retired U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel (an appointee of Bill Clinton) told the Times he agreed with the assessment of the rally as a “political event.” He added that Bove being in the crowd gave “at least the appearance of partiality, particularly given what the president said.”
“I can’t understand how he could possibly think it appropriate to go there,” conservative legal commentator Edward Whelan told the Times. “You can argue about whether the rules clearly prohibit what he did, but he showed terrible judgment.”
Click here to read the Times‘ full report (subscription required).
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