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Far-right MAGA prosecutor yet again ruled to be illegally serving in her role

rawstory.com · 4h · first reportShare

A federal appeals court ruled the Trump Justice Department's favorite trick for keeping unconfirmed prosecutors in power is flat-out illegal. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Monday that former Attorney General Pam Bondi couldn't legally install Sigal Chattah as Nevada's acting U.S. attorney by simply naming her "first assistant" to an already-vacant office after her 120-day interim appointment expired. The court disqualified Chattah from supervising prosecutions against three Nevada defendants, ruling the maneuver violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act's strict limits on bypassing Senate confirmation. "The Attorney General cannot do so," the panel wrote. The court also rejected DOJ's fallback argument that Bondi simply delegated all of the U.S. attorney's powers to Chattah directly, ruling federal law doesn't allow handing one person the office's entire authority as a workaround. Judges across the country have now struck down nearly identical appointment schemes i