An Arizona judge determined that Chattah, a Trump appointee, was in the role unlawfully
Arizona-based US District Judge David G. Campbell has barred Sigal Chattah from overseeing four criminal prosecutions as US attorney in Nevada, reported the Associated Press.
Campbell determined that Chattah, who was appointed to the federal prosecutor role by US President Donald Trump, was “not validly serving” in the post, per a statement published by AP News. The judge ordered government attorneys handling the prosecutions to inform the court within seven days that Chattah was not supervising them.
The federal public defender’s office in Nevada had said that Chattah was no longer authorized to be US attorney in the state as of July. It claimed that the current US administration utilized illegitimate “personnel maneuvers” to facilitate Chattah’s continuance in the post and called for Chattah to be disqualified as Nevada’s top federal prosecutor, according to a statement published by AP News.
The office asked the court to grant Nevada federal judges the authority to appoint a new interim US attorney for the state and sought for indictments brought under Chattah’s term to be dismissed.
Under US federal law, acting US attorneys may only serve for 120 days. Campbell noted that should the president fail to nominate a permanent US attorney and the Senate fail to confirm the nomination within the 120-day window, federal district court judges could name an interim attorney until a permanent replacement is appointed. By remaining in the US attorney post beyond the legal 120 days, Chattah had breached the federal law statute, the judge wrote in his decision.
Campbell called out the US administration’s strategy of making temporary appointments to enable Trump appointees to skip the Senate confirmation mandate. The confirmation process typically necessitates a level of bipartisan backing.
Nonetheless, the judge did not drop the indictment brought under Chattah’s tenure.
The Trump administration has attempted to extend temporary federal prosecutor appointments in California and New Jersey as well. Last month, Pennsylvania judge Matthew Brann declared that Alina Habba’s continuation in the role of New Jersey US attorney was unlawful.
