Emil Joseph Bove III
How Judge Bove rules, drawn from 16 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Bove
Emil Joseph Bove III is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Appointed by President Donald J. Trump, he received his commission on August 20, 2025. He previously served as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York.
Judge Bove's practices and standing orders
The court's website lists no individual practices or standing orders of Judge Bove's own (checked October 16, 2026), so the court's local rules and general orders are the place to look (court page ↗).
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026).
- Third Circuit Motions Practice ↗
- Motions to Exceed the Page or Word Limitations ↗
- Motions for Extensions of Time and Clarification of L.A.R. 110 ↗
- Vacating Option B for Filing of an Appendix ↗
- Reduced Number of Copies of Briefs Required ↗
- Stays in Immigration Cases ↗
- Submission of Audio and Video Files ↗
How Judge Bove decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In a prison grievance dispute, a sworn declaration with concrete firsthand facts was enough to require further proceedings on exhaustion.
“The Declaration contained specific, material facts about genuine issues relating to the unavailability of the grievance process.”
In the PPP loan dispute, the statutory text and structure controlled whether payments to independent contractors counted as payroll costs.
“The text and structure of the CARES Act persuade us that Essintial’s payments to independent contractors were not ‘payroll costs’ for purposes of a PPP loan.”
Procedural preferences
In the immigration reopening petition, the opinion enforced the distinction between statutory reconsideration and discretionary reopening, including its jurisdictional limit.
“We therefore lack jurisdiction. Accordingly, we will dismiss Petitioner’s challenge to the BIA’s denial of his sua sponte motion to reopen.”
In the Imerys Talc bankruptcy appeal, he dismissed the insurer’s challenge as moot because the purchaser acted in good faith and the insurer had not obtained a stay of the sale.
“This ‘statutory mootness’ provision is dispositive here.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s summary judgment decisions and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion”
“we will dismiss the appeal insofar as Defendant challenges the District Court’s Criminal History calculation”
“otherwise affirm the judgment, and remand for the limited purpose of allowing the District Court to modify the judgment by memorializing that Defendant is a Tier III SORNA offender.”
An interim precedential opinion vacated the stay of removal and deferred the petition’s merits disposition to a later opinion.
“we will deny the Petition For Review as to Petitioner’s motions for statutory reopening and statutory reconsideration”
“dismiss the Petition as to the denial of the motion for sua sponte reopening.”
“we will reverse the judgment of the District Court as to Plaintiff’s NJLAD and § 1983 claims, affirm as to the § 1981 claim, and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
In a separate concurrence, Bove argued that the state’s heightened background-circumstances rule also raised an equal-protection problem.
“Accordingly, we will reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“Defendant’s Second Amendment arguments are foreclosed by precedents we lack authority to revisit. His sentencing challenges are meritless. Accordingly, we will affirm.”
“We will reverse the judgment against Defendant Koenig because he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on each of Plaintiff’s claims. We will vacate the judgment against Defendant Hawkins and instruct the District Court to enter a reduced award of punitive damages in the amount of $12,000.”
“Based on those facts, we will affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand to the District Court with instructions to remand to the Bankruptcy Court”
In a separate concurrence, Bove agreed that the petition was moot and gave an additional jurisdictional reason.
Bove dissented from the denial of rehearing en banc concerning Pennsylvania’s mail-ballot date requirement. He would have revisited the panel ruling after a state-law development and argued that the date requirement imposed a minimal burden. His writing ends: “I believe we should have done that ourselves, and therefore I respectfully dissent from the order denying rehearing en banc.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Not applicable to this circuit-court role.
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