Judge finds L.A.’s top federal prosecutor is unlawfully serving, bars him from two cases
Judge finds L.A.’s top federal prosecutor is unlawfully serving, bars him from two cases
A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor and ordered him disqualified from overseeing two criminal cases, rejecting the Justice Department’s latest effort to preserve his authority.
Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright, however, delayed the disqualifications from taking effect while he considers an anticipated government request for a stay pending appeal.
Although the order applies to two prosecutions, Seabright rejected the legal arrangement that has allowed Essayli to continue leading the office under the title of first assistant U.S. attorney. He concluded that the Justice Department had unlawfully delegated powers so sweeping that Essayli in effect occupied the U.S. attorney’s position.
“In sum, Essayli is unlawfully serving as a ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” Seabright wrote.
After learning about Seabright’s ruling from The Times, Essayli on Tuesday afternoon said that his office expected it and that the case “will be decided by the Supreme Court.” In a follow-up email, he said, “I look forward to serving in my current role until then.”
H. Dean Steward, a defense attorney who filed a renewed motion in August challenging Essayli’s authority, called the decision “a victory for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.”
“The Trump administration ignored the laws governing the appointment of U.S. Attorneys and got caught in Los Angeles,” he said in an emailed statement. “Trump and his Department of Justice violated the law again and again in an effort to install minions as chief federal prosecutors.”
The dispute is part of a nationwide battle over the Trump administration’s efforts to install its chosen prosecutors without Senate confirmation. Alina Habba stepped down as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor in December after an appeals court found her appointment unlawful. In Virginia, a judge’s finding that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed led to the dismissal of indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James.
In his Tuesday ruling, Seabright declined to dismiss the indictments against defendants in the two cases that he banned Essayli from overseeing. Jaime Hector Ramirez and Tu Anh Tran had not shown the substantial prejudice required for that relief, he said in response to attorneys’ requests to dismiss the indictments. His order bars Essayli from participating in or supervising their cases, including overseeing the attorneys handling them.
Seabright last year ruled that Essayli was “not lawfully serving” as acting U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, but allowed him to continue exercising authority as a special attorney and first assistant U.S. attorney.
The new decision follows a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling rejecting a similar arrangement for Nevada prosecutor Sigal Chattah. The appellate court ruled that the Department of Justice cannot keep an official who has not been confirmed by the Senate in charge of a U.S. attorney’s office simply by giving that person a different title and the full powers of the job.
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Nevada decision, arguing that federal law allows the attorney general to delegate a vacant office’s powers and install a new first assistant as its acting leader. The Supreme Court has not said whether it will take up the case.
The Justice Department sought to address the 9th Circuit ruling through a revised delegation of authority expressly excluding certain powers reserved for a U.S. attorney. At an Oct. 13 hearing, Assistant U.S. Atty. Alexander Robbins argued before Seabright that the revised delegation placed Essayli’s authority on the permissible side of the line drawn by the appeals court.
Seabright found that the revision made no meaningful difference because those powers could not have been delegated to Essayli in the first place.
“Withholding the three specific statutory powers mentioned in the revised designation order in reality withholds nothing,” Seabright wrote.
A former Republican member of the California Assembly from Riverside, Essayli has used his position to act as one of Trump’s fiercest legal foot soldiers. He has pursued criminal charges against protesters, activists and immigrants while dropping cases involving administration allies and supporting lawsuits challenging transgender and environmental policies in California.
Essayli was sworn in as interim U.S. attorney in April 2025. Around the time he hit that role’s 120-day limit, he resigned and then-Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi appointed him as a special attorney and designated him first assistant in an attempt to make him acting U.S. attorney.
Seabright rejected that maneuver last year. But the judge initially permitted him to supervise prosecutions in his other roles — an arrangement the subsequent 9th Circuit ruling undermined.
Trump still had not nominated anyone to serve as U.S. attorney for the Central District of California as of Tuesday’s ruling, Seabright noted.
At the Oct. 13 hearing, Robbins said the government would appeal any disqualification ruling and warned of “the chaotic practical effects” of an order taking effect without a stay.
Under the schedule accepted by Seabright, prosecutors have five business days after the ruling to seek a stay pending appeal. If he denies that request, the disqualifications would take effect one week later, subject to further orders from him or an appellate court.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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