Judge rules Trump's US attorney in Los Angeles is serving unlawfully
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s acting U.S. attorney in Los Angeles has been “unlawfully serving in that role,” marking the third time a court has disqualified one of the administration’s top prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright concluded that Bill Essayli—a former Republican member of the California State Assembly who was appointed interim U.S. attorney in April—had served beyond the 120-day expiration date for that position and that the administration’s efforts to keep him beyond that deadline did not withstand legal scrutiny.
However, the judge said Essayli could retain the job of first assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California, allowing him to continue overseeing prosecutions in the region if no one else is appointed to the top role.
In his 55-page opinion, Seabright expressed some discomfort that the decision, in practical terms, probably meant that very little would change in terms of who would lead an office that wields broad prosecutorial authority over civil and criminal matters in one of the nation’s most populous cities. However, the judge wrote, “the court’s role … is to apply the statutes as written and interpreted by binding case law.”
Essayli seized upon that part of the judge’s ruling to declare victory on social media.
“Nothing is changing,” he wrote. “I continue serving as the top federal prosecutor in the Central District of California.”
The decision by Seabright, an appointee of George W. Bush, to disqualify Essayli as acting U.S. attorney follows similar rulings in other parts of the country that have condemned the complex series of novel maneuvers the Trump administration has deployed to retain loyalists in key prosecutorial roles, while bypassing the Senate confirmation process.
Judges have disqualified Alina Habba, Trump’s handpicked U.S. attorney in New Jersey, and Sigal Chattah, his pick for Nevada, though in both cases they stayed their orders to allow the Justice Department an opportunity to appeal.
Another challenge is pending against Ryan Ellison, the acting U.S. attorney in New Mexico. And lawyers for former FBI director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James have filed similar challenges seeking to have criminal cases against them thrown out, arguing that Lindsey Halligan, Trump’s U.S. attorney pick in the Eastern District of Virginia, was similarly appointed by unlawful means.
Essayli, since his appointment earlier this year, has earned a reputation as one of the most vocal U.S. attorneys in the country and as an outspoken defender of Trump’s agenda.
His hard-line stance on immigration enforcement has made him a frequent presence on conservative cable news—most notably during the administration’s crackdown on protests against its mass deportation efforts in Los Angeles this summer.
Essayli’s brash management style has led to tumult in his office and prompted the departures of several career prosecutors. It has also earned him plaudits, however, from top Justice Department officials who were eager to keep him in his role despite pushback from California Sens. Adam Schiff (D) and Alex Padilla (D).
“While this Administration continues to replace career professionals with illegitimate political allies eager to do Trump’s bidding, Californians need better relief than this,” Schiff said in a social media post Tuesday reacting to Seabright’s ruling.
Typically, U.S. attorneys are nominated by the president and confirmed or rejected in a Senate vote. Under a Senate custom known as the “blue slip,” the home-state senators for any appointee to that role can effectively veto a nomination.
But Trump has faced pushback on Capitol Hill against some of his more controversial nominees, prompting the Justice Department to deploy novel tactics to keep his picks in their jobs.
Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Essayli to lead the Los Angeles U.S. attorney’s office in April on an interim basis, which by law, allowed him to serve for only 120 days. If the Senate has not confirmed a nominee by that deadline, the law empowers the region’s federal judges to appoint their own acting prosecutor.
But as Essayli’s time neared expiration this summer, he hinted that he might not be ready to leave his role.
“We’ve got some tricks up our sleeves,” he told conservative commentator Glenn Beck in an interview.
Days before his interim deadline, he resigned his post, and Bondi appointed him to his office’s No. 2 position—the same strategy used to retain other embattled U.S. attorney picks such as Habba, Chattah and Ellison. The administration has argued that because there was no longer anyone serving in the top role in any of those offices, Essayli and the others, as chief deputies, could inherit the title of the U.S. attorney on an acting basis.
Seabright, in his opinion Tuesday, rejected that reasoning, as have the other judges who have ruled on the issue. The administration’s interpretation of the statute would essentially allow the president to name whomever they wanted to U.S. attorney positions for an entire term while ignoring Senate confirmation and the role the law provides for courts to play in filling vacancies, he wrote.
The judge had been tasked with considering the legality of Essayli’s appointment after three defendants facing federal charges in Los Angeles had challenged the legality of his appointment and sought to have their cases thrown out.
Seabright, however, denied the request to dismiss the cases, noting that Essayli had not signed their indictments and lawfully serving assistant U.S. attorneys in his office had handled all aspects of the prosecutions.
“Everything before the court indicates that the prosecutions’ substantive actions have been performed by lawfully appointed AUSAs,” he wrote.
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