Justice Department official Emil Bove testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he never told department attorneys to ignore court orders, denying the account of a whistleblower.

Bove, a candidate for a seat on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals which hears cases from Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, rejected calls from Democrats and the claims of former DOJ attorney Erez Reuveni that he is unfit to serve on the bench.

According to various sources, Bove proposed ignoring court orders as administration lawyers strategized in March over expected legal challenges to the president’s plan to assert wartime powers to rapidly deport some immigrants.

“I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order,” Bove told the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added, “I don’t think there’s any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed yesterday calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge.”

A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Bove was on President Donald Trump’s defense team for his New York hush money trial and defended him in two federal criminal cases brought by the DOJ.

The White House said Bove “is unquestionably qualified for the role and has a career filled with accolades, both academically and throughout his legal career, that should make him a shoo-in for the Third Circuit.”

His nomination hearing on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee included no critical words from Senate Republicans, suggesting he could have a smooth path to confirmation in the GOP-led Congress.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) spoke for the Senate Democrats, though, when he voted in opposition to Bove’s nomination, writing to committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, also expressed his opposition to Bove’s nomination.

Joyce Vance, former DOJ official and a U.S. attorney during the Obama administration, wrote more about the concerns that Democrats have about the seemingly overriding loyalty Bove has shown to Trump versus the law.

“The only way to become a federal judge is by being initially nominated by a sitting president. That sets up one of the fundamental conundrums of the judiciary – a judge gets there by having sufficient political pull to be appointed, but is expected to leave it behind and be fair and objective once confirmed by the Senate. There is a push and pull between the merits of selecting judges via appointment versus through elections. Both have their pluses and minuses. The expectation in the federal system is that once appointed, judges have life tenure and need fear no reprisal based on how they rule; they are free to follow the law and the facts and exclude other considerations.”

“Erez Reuveni’s allegations aren’t unique – he is just brave enough to say publicly what many DOJ attorneys throughout the department have shared with us privately, said Stacey Young, a former DOJ employee who is now the executive director and founder of Justice Connection. “They have been told by Department leadership that their primary duty isn’t to enforce the law or uphold the Constitution, but to advance the President’s political agenda. Emil Bove has been the enforcer – sidelining, demoting or firing employees of the highest integrity because they are perceived as disloyal. He should be nowhere near a federal bench.”

The White House disagrees.

“The President is committed to nominating constitutionalists to the bench who will restore law and order and end the weaponization of the justice system, and Emil Bove fits that mold perfectly,” spokesman Harrison Fields said in a written statement.