Court Rejects Trump Tactics, Denounces Unlawful Prosecutor Appointment by DOJ

A new legal blow hit one of former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s lingering “acting” U.S. attorneys on Monday. An appellate court ruled against Bondi’s tactics, barring her from overseeing prosecutions of her challengers. The decision scrutinizes the Trump administration’s attempts to unlawfully maintain Sigal Chattah in her position.

In a unanimous decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared that Chattah’s role as acting U.S. Attorney in Nevada does not comply with the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. This verdict aligns with various other court rulings nationwide that have rejected the Trump administration’s maneuvers to ignore the U.S. Senate’s constitutional role of advice and consent.

Instead of adhering to the established constitutional process for appointing permanent federal prosecutorial leaders, the Department of Justice repeatedly attempted to convert interim loyalists into acting U.S. attorneys. These actions, often following the expiration of their 120-day terms, involved firing court-appointed replacements during vacancies to extend the interim service.

U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Miller, appointed by Donald Trump, made it clear that the Department of Justice cannot simply designate Chattah as the acting U.S. attorney by dismissing the existing first assistant U.S. attorney or second-in-command.

“The maneuvers used to extend Chattah’s time atop the U.S. Attorney’s Office are not unique to the District of Nevada. The Attorney General has employed similar—though not always identical—tactics to extend the service of other temporary appointees who have not been confirmed by the Senate. The district court’s reasoning was consistent with that of the other courts to consider those tactics, every one of which has concluded that they violate the limits imposed by the FVRA,” the opinion said.

The panel cited decisions that cut against the temporary U.S. attorney appointments of Alina Habba in New Jersey, Bilal Essayli in California, Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia, John Sarcone in the Northern District of New York, and Ryan Ellison in New Mexico.

Miller was joined in the decision by Senior U.S. District Judge Sidney Thomas, a Bill Clinton appointee, and U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld, Jr., a Trump appointee sitting on the three-judge appellate panel by designation.

The panel upheld Senior U.S. District Judge David Campbell’s ruling from October, which sided with criminal defendants Giann Icob Salazar Del Real, Devonte Devon Jackson, and Jorge Enriquez, Jr. in holding — without dismissing indictments — that their prosecutor had to be disqualified.

Campbell, a George W. Bush appointee in Arizona, said the FVRA was enacted by Congress “precisely” to prevent a scenario where a president and attorney general might attempt to backfill anyone into a top prosecutor role.

“The Court will disqualify Ms. Chattah from participating in or supervising Defendants’ prosecutions,” Campbell said.

The 9th Circuit, referring to Chattah as the “putative Acting United States Attorney,” affirmed the disqualification order and gave “no weight” to the DOJ’s reliance on an Office of Legal Counsel opinion from 2001.

Although the OLC concluded “first assistants may be elevated at any point after the vacancy arises,” the court said, the opinion was “inconsistent with earlier executive interpretations of the [FVRA] statute, and it relies on reasoning that has since been rejected.”

Chattah earlier defended her appointment as “not unconstitutional” and “not done in a nefarious manner,” according to local CBS affiliate KLAS.

“You know, a lot of these people, I know that they’re scared because I know where a lot of the bodies are buried because I come from the defense world,” she said.

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