A non-partisan pro-Democracy organization in North Carolina is calling on a U.S. Senator to reject the judicial nomination of one of the lawyers who defended President Donald Trump in a criminal case stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.
Bob Phillips, Executive Director of Common Cause North Carolina, said the organization is calling on Senator Thom Tillis to honor his pledge to reject any nominee who excuses the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by voting NO on the nomination of Emil Bove to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“He has said in an interview as recently as last week that he will never support any presidential nominee who, in his words, excuses January 6th,” Phillips said.
Bove, a current Department of Justice official, has repeatedly refused to denounce the January 6 insurrection, and Phillips said he has also used his position to undermine prosecutions of those responsible.
Phillips said, “He has, in his job as the Department of Justice attorney, gone after and terminated attorneys working in DOJ who prosecuted the insurrectionists and also requested the list of FBI agents who were investigating the insurrection.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on Bove’s nomination as early as Thursday, and, as a committee member, Phillips said Tillis holds a pivotal role in determining whether his nomination moves forward.
“We are simply asking Tom Tillis to be true to his words and vote no on this nomination,” Phillips said, “And if he does, then he would effectively be the one that would block what we think is a very unqualified person to be on the to have a lifetime judicial appointment.
As part of a nonpartisan public awareness campaign, Common Cause North Carolina is encouraging North Carolinians to contact Sen. Tillis and call on him to vote no to Bove’s nomination.
Public Radio East has reached out to Senator Tillis for comment but has not yet heard back from his office.
