On July 29, 2025, Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts voted to give Emil Bove a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a seat Bove won 50 to 49, so Ricketts's vote was needed. NPR reported before the vote that Bove had suggested the Trump administration may need to ignore judicial commands, an account from a fired Justice Department lawyer that Bove denies.
Ricketts also voted to confirm D. John Sauer as solicitor general, whose office's emergency requests produced 35 Supreme Court decisions, of which 26 ruled for the administration at least partially; Pam Bondi, whose department kept deportation flights going after a judge ordered them halted and then filed a complaint against him; and, with a deciding vote, Todd Blanche, whose department a federal judge found had violated the Epstein files law.
Pete Ricketts's Votes on Judges and the Justice Department's Lawyers
- Ricketts Cast a Deciding Vote to Give Emil Bove a Lifetime Appeals Court Seat in July 2025. On July 29, 2025, Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Emil Bove to the Third Circuit, and the 50-49 result needed every Republican yes vote; Ricketts had also voted for cloture on the nomination. Before the vote, a whistleblower, Erez Reuveni, said that before deportation flights in March 2025 Bove raised telling the courts to disregard any order blocking them; Bove denies it. NPR reported that the Senate confirmed him as Republicans dismissed whistleblower complaints about his conduct at the Justice Department.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm the Solicitor General Who Won 26 Emergency Orders for the Administration. On April 3, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm D. John Sauer as solicitor general, the Justice Department's lawyer before the Supreme Court, and he was confirmed 52 to 45. Of 35 shadow-docket decisions on the administration's actions, 26 ruled for the administration at least partially, according to the Brennan Center, rulings that have led to mass firings of civil servants, the defunding of scientific research and racial profiling in immigration sweeps. The Court also ruled in Trump v. CASA, argued by Sauer's office, that universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress gave federal courts.
- Ricketts Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Kept Deportation Flights Going and Then Filed a Complaint Against the Judge. On February 4, 2025, Ricketts voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general. In March 2025 Alien Enemies Act deportation flights went ahead after Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered them halted, and he later tried to hold officials accountable for flouting his orders; a divided appeals panel ordered that inquiry ended on April 14, 2026, and on June 22, 2026 the full D.C. Circuit vacated that order and agreed to rehear the case. Boasberg also ruled that the men deported on those flights were denied due process, NPR reported. In July 2025 Bondi's department filed a misconduct complaint against Boasberg, and an appeals judge dismissed it, faulting the department for failing to provide "sufficient evidence".
- Ricketts Cast One of the 50 Votes That Confirmed Todd Blanche, Whose Department a Judge Found in Violation of the Epstein Files Law. Ricketts voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025 and as attorney general on August 8, 2026, when the vote was 50 to 49 and the nomination would have failed without him. In June 2026 a federal judge found the department under Blanche had likely violated the terms of the Epstein Files Transparency Act and wrote that "The Attorney General has conceded that he is in violation of the Act".
Frequently Asked Questions About Pete Ricketts on Courts and judges
What is Pete Ricketts's record on the courts under Trump?
Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts cast a deciding vote to put Emil Bove on a federal appeals court, and he voted to confirm the solicitor general whose office won 26 of 35 emergency Supreme Court decisions at least in part, the attorney general whose department kept deportation flights going after a judge ordered them halted, and, with another deciding vote, Todd Blanche, whose department a judge found had likely violated the Epstein files law.
Did Pete Ricketts vote to confirm the judge Emil Bove?
Yes. Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Emil Bove to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on July 29, 2025, and the vote was 50 to 49, so Bove would not have been confirmed without Ricketts's vote. Before the vote, NPR reported that Bove, as a Justice Department official, had ordered the firing of a group of prosecutors involved in those Jan. 6 criminal cases.
Did Pete Ricketts vote for the officials who fought Judge Boasberg?
Yes. Pete Ricketts voted to confirm Pam Bondi, whose Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg after he ordered a halt to deportation flights, and Emil Bove, who a whistleblower says raised telling the courts to disregard such orders, which Bove denies. Boasberg later ruled that the men deported on those flights were denied due process.
Last updated: 2026-10-25