President Donald Trump cannot fire US attorneys who have been appointed by courts, a federal judge in Washington state said Thursday in a first-of-its-kind ruling that tests the scope of a president’s removal power under the Constitution.
The ruling comes from a lawsuit by Roger Rogoff, who was appointed by a federal court to be Seattle’s US Attorney in July, only to be fired minutes later.
“Mr. Roger Rogoff is the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington and has been the rightful holder of that office since July 15, 2026, when he took the oath of office,” Judge Stanley Bastian, the chief judge of the eastern district court in Washington, said following an hourlong hearing.
Courts across the country have wrestled with the administration’s efforts to keep in place so-called “interim” US attorneys selected by president beyond the 120 days federal law allows those prosecutors to serve in the temporary role. Once that time period expires, the law gives the local federal court the power to appoint someone to serve as US attorney until the Senate confirms the appointee of the president. However, in several instances, Trump then fired that court-appointed prosecutor.
Bastian said that a president’s powers to remove US attorneys under the law were limited to Senate-confirmed US attorneys – not those appointed by courts.
“Allowing the president to fire a United States attorney appointed by the court also eliminates the incentive to nominate a candidate that can be confirmed by the Senate,” Bastian said. “In other words, the executive and legislative branches are supposed to and encouraged to work together.”
The Justice Department does not contest a court’s ability to appoint a US attorney in that circumstance. But it argues that the president still retains the ability to fire that person. DOJ said it will appeal Bastian’s ruling.
Rogoff was the first court-appointed US attorney to challenge his firing in court and Bastian noted he was the first judge ever to address the legal question of whether a president can fire court-appointed US attorneys.
While Bastian’s preliminary injunction ruling is in effect, the administration cannot take steps to fire Rogoff, nor can it hinder Rogoff’s ability to carry out his duties as Seattle top federal prosecutor.
Rogoff’s case ushers in a new significant legal question after months of litigation in other states over Trump’s maneuverings around US attorneys.
In New Jersey for instance, Trump tried to reinstate his original choice for interim US attorney — his former criminal lawyer Alina Habba — after the federal court there selected someone else for the role. Habba later resigned after a federal appeals court said her appointment was unlawful. The Justice Department then worked with the federal judges in the state to find a prosecutor that the court could appoint to the job.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has appealed to the Supreme Court a case concerning its workarounds to keep Trump’s chosen lawyer, Sigal Chattah, as the leader of the US attorney’s office in Nevada, after lower courts said her appointment was illegal.
The Supreme Court has not yet said if it will take up the Chattah case.
CNN’s Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
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