A federal judge ruled that the president cannot unilaterally fire a U.S. attorney appointed by a district court, reinstating Seattle's top federal prosecutor and setting up an immediate appeal.
A federal judge in Washington state ruled Thursday that the president cannot unilaterally fire a U.S. attorney who was appointed by a federal district court, a decision that hands the fight over the nation's federal prosecutors to the appellate courts and could shape U.S. attorney's offices across the country.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian issued the ruling from the bench in a lawsuit brought by Roger Rogoff, the court-appointed U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington. Bastian rejected the administration's core argument: that the president may remove a court-appointed prosecutor at will.
"The president cannot unilaterally fire a United States attorney appointed by the district court," Bastian said. Doing so, he added, "would upend the framework created by the Constitution and the statutes, which together balance the president's right to appoint and the Senate's right to confirm."
Bastian, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, found that Rogoff has lawfully held the job since he took the oath of office on July 15. The judge also stripped authority from Charles Neil Floyd, whom the administration had temporarily installed in the post, ruling that the Justice Department had "improperly granted" him the role.
Rogoff is the first court-appointed U.S. attorney to challenge his removal in court. Bastian is the first judge to reach the merits of that question, giving the case outsized importance well beyond western Washington.
The dispute turns on a corner of federal law that usually surfaces without controversy. When a U.S. attorney's office falls vacant and no Senate-confirmed nominee is in place, district courts may appoint an interim U.S. attorney to keep the office running. The administration has argued that the president's removal power reaches those appointees as well.
The White House has made clear it wants prosecutors aligned with its law-and-order agenda leading the nation's U.S. attorney's offices, and it has moved aggressively to replace holdovers it considers out of step with that mission. Officials describe the effort as a push to restore accountability at a Justice Department they say had drifted.
In Seattle, that push collided with the appointment power the district judges exercised this summer. Rogoff was fired less than an hour after the judges selected him. He sued in July, arguing the removal was unlawful.
Bastian's order went further than simply reinstating him. It bars the Executive Office of the President, Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department from carrying out "any purported firing" or removal of Rogoff, from interfering with his service, and from treating anyone other than Rogoff as the U.S. attorney for the district.
Similar standoffs have unfolded in other districts, and the outcome here could set the terms for each of them. The ruling is the latest in a run of decisions testing the reach of executive authority, including one that ordered the administration to identify the architects of its $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.
The Justice Department said it will ask a federal appeals court to temporarily block Bastian's decision while it appeals, a move that keeps the roster of the district's top prosecutor in flux until a higher court weighs in.
The department has defended its removals as a lawful exercise of presidential authority, and its leaders have expressed confidence that the appellate courts will vindicate that view. The case now moves into a judicial system where the administration has scored significant wins on other fronts.
For now, the practical effect in Seattle is that Rogoff remains the district's chief federal prosecutor. Defense attorneys, federal agents and local officials who work with the office will be watching to see whether the appeal changes that within days.
The immediate question is whether the appeals court grants a stay, which would pause reinstatement while the merits are argued and could take weeks. If the stay is denied, Rogoff stays on the job and the administration must litigate the appeal with him in place.
Just as important is how far the ruling travels. Other court-appointed U.S. attorneys who were removed could cite Bastian's reasoning, turning a single Seattle dispute into a broader test of how the administration has staffed the Justice Department.
With midterm elections weeks away, the case also feeds a larger argument about the limits of presidential power over federal law enforcement. The fight over who gets to run the nation's prosecutors is now headed for a higher court, and the answer will shape the Justice Department long after the ballots are counted.
A federal judge ruled that the president cannot unilaterally fire a U.S. attorney appointed by a district court, reinstating Seattle's top federal prosecutor and setting up an immediate appeal.
freedomlinedispatch.com
