Unprecedented Move: Federal Public Defender Seeks to Disqualify Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli
The federal public defender’s office in Los Angeles has filed a motion to disqualify acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, arguing that his appointment is unlawful. Essayli, a former Riverside County assemblyman, was appointed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi in April, but his term was set to expire in late July unless he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate or a panel of federal judges.
Instead of seeking confirmation, the White House used an unprecedented legal maneuver to shift Essayli’s title to “acting,” extending his term another nine months without any confirmation process. The federal public defender’s office is seeking to dismiss an indictment against their client, Jaime Ramirez, who was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and to disqualify Essayli and attorneys working under him from participating in criminal prosecutions in the district.
Challenging the Appointment
The motion, filed by deputy federal public defenders James Anglin Flynn and Ayah A. Sarsour, argues that the Trump administration circumvented limitations imposed by Congress on temporary service in key offices, including U.S. attorneys. Essayli’s term was supposed to expire on July 29, but the White House named him acting U.S. attorney at the eleventh hour, allowing him to hold the post for 210 more days without confirmation hearings.
According to the motion, Essayli “was not lawfully acting as the United States Attorney in any capacity” on August 13, when the government obtained the indictment against Ramirez, and “he has no such lawful authority today.” The U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. and the Department of Justice have declined to comment on the matter.
Pattern of Controversy
The Trump administration has used similar strategies to keep political allies in power in U.S. attorney’s offices in New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, and the Northern District of New York. However, legal challenges are mounting, and a federal judge recently ruled that Alina Habba has been illegally occupying her seat in New Jersey since early July.
In Nevada, the federal public defender’s office filed a motion to dismiss an indictment brought by acting U.S. Atty. Sigal Chattah or to disqualify the U.S. attorney’s office entirely. The motion argues that Chattah is not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney and was illegally kept in office past the 120-day limit.
Legal experts have called the White House’s move to keep Essayli in office unprecedented and warned that it could affect criminal cases. Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School, stated that “these laws have never been used, as far as I can see, to bypass the Senate confirmation process or the judicial one.”
The controversy surrounding Essayli’s appointment is part of a larger pattern of the Trump administration bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in confirming U.S. attorneys. As of July, Trump had submitted formal nominations for only nine of his administration’s 37 interim appointees, sparking concerns about the erosion of the Senate’s advice-and-consent authority.
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