Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully appointed Nevada's top federal 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.

TRUMP-FIRED US ATTORNEY LAUNCHES UNPRECEDENTED COURT FIGHT AFTER 54 MINUTES ON THE JOB 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.