Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully tapped as Nevada top prosecutor

A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld an order that disqualified Sigal Chattah as the top federal prosecutor in Nevada, finding that the Justice Department could not keep her in charge through the appointment and delegation mechanisms it used after her interim term ended.

A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a judge’s ruling that Chattah ‌was not validly leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada.

The ruling disqualifies Chattah from supervising the prosecutions in three criminal cases.

Chattah, who served as Nevada’s Republican National Committee member before joining the U.S. Justice Department, was appointed interim U.S. attorney effective April 1, 2025, for a term of up to 120 days.

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As her tenure was about to expire in late July of that year, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi designated Chattah as first assistant U.S. attorney after Chattah resigned from the interim role shortly before the 120-day term expired. The Justice Department argued that the move allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act while a permanent U.S. attorney had not been confirmed.

Bondi also appointed Chattah as a special attorney, while DOJ maintained that her designation as first assistant — the No. 2 position in the office — allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.

Federal public defenders in Nevada challenged Chattah’s authority in multiple unrelated criminal cases, arguing she should be disqualified because her appointment was unlawful and called for the cases to be dismissed.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell sided with the public defenders in September, and the Trump administration would then ​appeal.

The appeals court panel on Monday found that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act provision DOJ relied on, a first assistant could automatically become acting U.S. attorney only if that person held the first-assistant position when the vacancy occurred.

“Nor can the Attorney General create a de facto Acting ‌U.S. Attorney ⁠by delegating all of the functions and duties of the U.S. Attorney to someone else,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Eric Miller, an appointee of President Donald Trump.

The unanimous panel also included U.S. District Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Jr., another Trump appointee, sitting by designation, and U.S. Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas.

The Justice Department had argued that Chattah’s designation as first assistant automatically allowed her to serve as acting U.S. attorney under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and, alternatively, that the attorney general could delegate U.S. attorney functions to her. The panel rejected both arguments.

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This is the latest court setback for the administration’s efforts to keep temporary appointees serving as top federal prosecutors without Senate confirmation. The dispute comes amid controversy over the Senate Judiciary Committee’s so-called “blue slip” tradition, which can allow home-state senators to significantly impede U.S. attorney nominees when the committee chairman honors their objections.

Trump did not nominate Chattah for the permanent Nevada U.S. attorney post, instead nominating George Kelesis in February 2026.

In December, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of ​Appeals found that Alina ⁠Habba, a former personal lawyer for Trump, was not lawfully serving as acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey and disqualified her from supervising cases.

Reuters contributed to this report.