Alanna Durkin Richer.

President Donald Trump says he’s nominating his former criminal defense lawyer Emil Bove to become a federal appeals court judge. As a high-ranking Justice Department official, Bove was behind the controversial move to drop the corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams as well as some of the agency’s most scrutinized actions since Trump’s return to the White House in January. Trump has picked Bove to fill a vacancy on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The nomination, which is subject to Senate confirmation, comes just months into Bove’s contentious tenure at the department.