Judge rules LA’s top federal prosecutor ‘serving illegal’

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli “does not legally serve” in his position, but has refused to deny the criminal charges that have been challenged by defense attorneys about his position.

Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Sebright was brought in to oversee the motions after federal judges in Los Angeles sought to decriminalize Aslili. In his ruling, Seabright said Esley “unlawfully assumed the role of acting United States attorney” in July but could still remain in charge under a different title.

Seabright said Esley “remains the first assistant United States attorney” and can “perform the duties and responsibilities of the United States.” that Office” even if he is forced to lose his “act” name.

Essayli, a former Riverside County assemblyman, was appointed as the area’s interim top federal attorney by U.S. Atty. General Pam Bondi in April.

Top U.S. attorneys’ offices must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate or a panel of federal judges, but the Trump administration has defied the normal process to allow Easley and others to go forward without a vote.

Essely’s interim appointment expired in late July, but the White House never moved to name him to the permanent role, instead using an unprecedented legal maneuver to change his title to “acting,” extending his tenure by nine months.

Challenges to Essayli’s appointment have been brought in at least three criminal cases, with defense attorneys arguing that the charges brought against him under his watch are false. The federal public defender’s office in Los Angeles asked the judge to disqualify Asley from attending and supervising criminal trials in the district.

In his decision, Sebret said he shared the concerns of federal public defenders that an order not to dismiss the charges and allow Aselili to retain his power would be “no less remedial in any way.”

But Seabright said there was no showing that Essely’s oversight of the acting role “improperly interfered with the grand jury process or caused any other specific action that prejudiced the defendants.”

He said that although Isaili cannot remain acting US attorney, “in that role, including prosecuting or overseeing these cases,” the court “has no basis to prevent Isaili from performing the legal duties” of the first assistant US attorney.

“And in that capacity, he can oversee those trials,” Seibret wrote.

The Justice Department declined to comment on any rulings, citing ongoing cases.

Seabright’s order comes amid similar challenges across the country to the Trump administration’s tactics to install loyalists who have the authority to bring criminal charges and sue on behalf of the government.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Elena Haba illegally held the post of US attorney in New Jersey, although that ruling was stayed on appeal. Last month, a federal judge disbarred Nevada’s top federal attorney, Segal Chatah, from several cases, concluding that he was “not validly serving as acting United States attorney.” Chishta’s disqualification has also been put on hold while the Justice Department appeals a decision.

James Comey, the former FBI director accused of lying to Congress, cited the Nevada and New Jersey cases in a recent filing, and is now challenging the legality of Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Halligan was appointed after his predecessor, who was also a Trump appointee, declined to seek charges against Comey.

Seabright cited similar cases elsewhere, but said that when Easley took the role “no court had accepted the practice.” No decisions in Nevada or New Jersey, he said, “are binding on those district courts.”

“No other court — and, significantly, no circuit court — has yet decided,” he wrote.

Since taking office, Easley has doggedly pursued President Trump’s agenda, championing tough immigration enforcement in Southern California, often using the president’s language verbatim in news conferences. Essayli’s hiring has sparked turmoil in the office, with dozens of career DOJ attorneys resigning.

U.S. Deputy Atty. Alexander P. Robbins previously told the judge that the government believes that Essely’s term will end on February 24, and that the post of acting US attorney will remain vacant after that.

Robbins argued in the court filing that the court should not order Essayli to “remove the prosecutorial and supervisory hats that many others in this office wear, creating chaos and confusion in the inner workings of the United States Attorney’s Office for the nation’s largest district.”

When asked by a Times reporter last month about the motion to impeach him, Easley said “the president won the election.”

“The American people have given him the authority to run the executive branch, including the Attorney General of the United States, and I look forward to serving at the pleasure of the president,” he said at a news conference.