A federal judge on Thursday reinstated Roger Rogoff as the U.S. attorney in Seattle, finding that the Trump administration overstepped its authority in firing the prosecutor minutes after he took office earlier this year.
The judge, Stanley A. Bastian, also barred the administration from attempting to remove Mr. Rogoff again, and denied its motion to stay his ruling, saying that it was “in the public’s interest to have the executive branch follow the law.” Moments after the hearing, Mr. Rogoff left the federal courthouse in Seattle and said he was going straight to the office.
The ruling creates an unusual dynamic where a top federal prosecutor could be operating, for now, over the objections of the president and the attorney general. It is the latest rebuke to President Trump’s efforts to circumvent Congress in his appointments.
Mr. Rogoff was appointed in July by a unanimous vote of federal judges in the Western District of Washington, after the Trump administration had left the office in the hands of its second-in-command.
The administration has used a similar maneuver in other U.S. attorney’s offices. The last Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney left the Seattle office in 2023.
Judge Bastian, the chief judge from the Eastern District of Washington, said in his ruling that “the president cannot unilaterally fire a United States attorney appointed by the district court.”
“Allowing the president to fire a court-appointed U.S. attorney would upend the framework created by the Constitution and the statutory framework, which together balances the president’s right to appoint and the Senate’s right to confirm,” he added.
The judge, an appointee of President Barack Obama, also barred the attorney general, Todd Blanche, from trying to prevent Mr. Rogoff from carrying out the job until the Senate approves a new appointment.
After the decision, the Justice Department said “we disagree with the decision and intend to seek an immediate stay and will appeal.”
Mr. Rogoff, who previously worked as a prosecutor in the office, said in a statement that he was “now focused on assuming the role of U.S. attorney and getting to work for the people of Western Washington.”
The law allows judges to nominate U.S. attorneys on their own if the president has not filled a vacancy. Mr. Rogoff is not the first U.S. attorney fired by Mr. Trump, but he is the first to challenge that firing in court. It remains to be seen whether Thursday’s ruling will prompt other judges to fill vacancies.
Mr. Rogoff filed suit in July after his firing, setting the stage for Thursday’s hearing. The ruling came in a preliminary injunction entered against the government.
Earlier this month, amid the litigation, Mr. Trump nominated Pete Serrano, who has served as the first assistant in the Eastern District of Washington, to fill the vacancy in the Western District, in Seattle.
The Seattle office had been led by Charles Neil Floyd, a former immigration judge installed by the Trump administration.
In court on Thursday, a Justice Department attorney, Joshua Ha, said, “There’s no dispute that the Western District of Washington has someone lawfully performing the duties of U.S. attorney right now.”
Judge Bastian responded, “I think that is a dispute. That’s why we are here.”
Hailyn Chen, an attorney representing Mr. Rogoff, argued that if the president can fire Mr. Rogoff, a law passed by Congress giving the judiciary the authority to fill longstanding vacancies with its own appointments would be essentially meaningless.
John McKay, a former U.S. attorney in Seattle, said in an interview that Thursday’s ruling sent a message to the president, and to Mr. Blanche: “You must follow the Constitution. You must nominate and seek Senate confirmation.”
Mr. McKay was one of several former federal prosecutors who filed a brief in support of Mr. Rogoff.
