A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, has been "unlawfully serving" in the role and is disqualified from overseeing two ongoing criminal prosecutions, the latest setback in a yearlong legal fight over how the Trump administration has kept allies atop US attorney's offices without Senate confirmation.
Essayli, a former Republican state lawmaker and close Trump ally, became interim US attorney in Los Angeles in April 2025 without being formally nominated by the president, a maneuver that let him avoid the standard Senate confirmation process. After his interim term expired last July, the administration redesignated him first as "acting" and then as "first assistant" US attorney to keep him in place. Judge Michael Seabright ruled Tuesday that none of those titles cured the underlying problem, citing an August federal appellate ruling against a similarly positioned prosecutor in Nevada.
A pattern across several states
Essayli is now at least the fourth Trump-appointed federal prosecutor disqualified by a court this year over how they were installed, following similar rulings against Alina Habba in New Jersey, Lindsey Halligan in the Eastern District of Virginia — whose indictments of James Comey and Letitia James were thrown out as a result — and prosecutors in Nevada and northern New York. The common legal question, according to the Guardian's reporting on the ruling, is whether the administration can keep allies running US attorney's offices indefinitely without ever sending their nominations to the Senate.
"We respectfully disagree with the court's order," Essayli said in a statement. "The President and the Attorney General have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department. Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current role until then." The Justice Department has said it intends to appeal, and Tuesday's order does not take immediate effect.
Defense attorneys claim a win
H Dean Steward, a defense lawyer who challenged Essayli's authority to supervise his client's case, called the ruling a "victory for the rule of law and the US constitution," telling the Los Angeles Times that "the Trump administration ignored the laws governing the appointment of US attorneys and got caught in Los Angeles."
Over the past year, Essayli has built a high profile within the administration's legal agenda, bringing cases tied to immigration enforcement and prosecuting protesters. He has more recently pushed a campaign alleging that thousands of registered California voters are "likely non-citizens," an effort state election officials have forcefully disputed. It is not yet clear whether Tuesday's ruling will affect that campaign directly, since it applies specifically to the two prosecutions where defendants challenged his authority.
The disqualification adds to a broader pattern this year of courts pushing back on how the administration has staffed federal prosecutors' offices, a fight that officials on both sides expect will ultimately reach the Supreme Court.
