Senate Judiciary Democrats are scrambling to make their case as the panel weighs the controversial judicial nomination of a Trump official accused of proposing the Justice Department defy court orders.

Emil Bove, the principal deputy attorney general, has been nominated for a lifetime appointment to a bench of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Democrats made a last-ditch effort Tuesday to call a hearing with the whistleblower who said he heard Bove suggest the Trump administration should consider ignoring potential court rulings on their plans to send migrants to foreign prisons, with Bove saying they may tell the courts “f--- you.”

But Bove looks poised to proceed, as the one Senate Judiciary Republican who has opposed the nominee, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) has signaled he would back his confirmation, which would bring a vote before the full Senate.

Bove is expected to have the votes to win confirmation on the Senate floor, where Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the committee must hear from the whistleblower behind the accusations: Erez Reuveni, who was fired after a disclosure he made in a related case, telling the judge that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported in error.

“I don't think we should move forward with this vote until we've given the whistleblower an opportunity under oath before the committee to tell us what happened. What we have here. Mr. Bove was in a position where he was encouraging members of the department of justice to mislead the judge on the case. That is just unacceptable, unprofessional conduct,” Durbin said Tuesday on CNN referencing the planned Thursday vote.

“This gentleman is prepared to go under oath and to speak to........

© The Hill