The case against Emil Bove becoming a federal judge was already unusually strong. The Donald Trump defense lawyer-turned-Trump Justice Department official’s handling of the Eric Adams case alone is grounds enough to question his temperament as a lawyer, much less as a judge.

But ahead of his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, yet more information has emerged that further puts Bove’s character at issue. As first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday and confirmed by NBC News, Bove told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders to carry out the president’s deportation campaign.

The Times reported that the whistleblower letter — which the outlet linked in its report — came from Erez Reuveni, a longtime government lawyer who was fired after failing to toe the party line in court. The Times report summarizes the letter, noting that Reuveni describes “three instances in which senior Justice Department officials engaged in wrongdoing by ignoring court orders, presenting legal arguments with no basis in law, misrepresenting facts to the courts, and directing him in one instance to misstate facts in violation of his ‘legal and ethical duties as an officer of the court.’” Reuveni was fired after declining to push the administration’s claim that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the government illegally sent to El Salvador, was a terrorist.

Separately, in the context of litigation over the Alien Enemies Act and the administration’s violation of a court order against deportation flights, Reuveni described a meeting during which Bove “stated that DOJ would need to consider telling the courts ‘f--- you’ and ignore any such court order.”.....

On the other side of the ledger, consider that Reuveni is hardly the first DOJ lawyer to find themselves on the opposite side of Bove while attempting to defend the rule of law. Recall Bove’s handling of the Adams affair, which even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board said “doesn’t inspire confidence.” Bove led the DOJ’s attempt to push through a shady quid pro quo dismissal of the New York City mayor’s criminal case. A federal judge rejected Bove’s quest, but the failed hatchet job sparked a rash of resignations by government lawyers who declined to do his dirty work.

And it’s worth stressing that these lawyers aren’t left-wing saboteurs who were lying in wait to catch Bove subverting the rule of law. Reuveni won accolades from the department during the first Trump administration, and he was apparently entrusted at a high level during the second administration — until he became inconvenient to Bove and the rest of the DOJ brass. Likewise, the most high-profile resignations of federal prosecutors in the Adams affair boasted traditional Republican connections like clerkships with GOP-appointed justices.

A senior Justice Department official, Emil Bove III, told subordinates he was willing to ignore court orders to fulfill the president’s aggressive deportation campaign, according to a whistle-blower complaint by a department lawyer who has since been fired.

The account by the dismissed lawyer, Erez Reuveni, paints a disturbing portrait of his final three weeks on the front lines of the Trump administration’s legal efforts to ship immigrants overseas, often with little notice or recourse. In Mr. Reuveni’s telling, Mr. Bove discussed disregarding court orders, adding an expletive for emphasis, and other top law enforcement officials showed themselves ready to stonewall judges or lie to them to get their way.

Mr. Reuveni’s account, which was obtained by The New York Times, was filed to lawmakers and the Justice Department inspector general on Tuesday, just one day before Mr. Bove is scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a nomination to a federal appeals court......

Mr. Bove “stressed to all in attendance that the planes needed to take off no matter what,” according to Mr. Reuveni’s account. Mr. Bove then broached “the possibility that a court order would enjoin those removals before they could be effectuated.”

“Bove stated that D.O.J. would need to consider telling the courts ‘fuck you’ and ignore any such order,” according to the account. “Mr. Reuveni perceived that others in the room looked stunned, and he observed awkward, nervous glances among people in the room. Silence overtook the room.”

Mr. Reuveni and others were “quickly ushered out of the room,” the account says. It continues, “Notwithstanding Bove’s directive, Mr. Reuveni left the meeting understanding that D.O.J. would tell D.H.S. to follow all court orders.”....

Mr. Reuveni’s account describes three instances in which senior Justice Department officials engaged in wrongdoing by ignoring court orders, presenting legal arguments with no basis in law, misrepresenting facts to the courts and, in one instance, directing him to misstate facts in violation of his “legal and ethical duties as an officer of the court.”

One of those cases involved the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act on March 15 to justify flying more than 100 Venezuelans the administration declared were gang members to CECOT, the El Salvador megaprison.

...There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always— do not forget this, Winston— always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless.

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face— forever...”

George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four