A federal judge has provisionally restored Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, holding that President Donald Trump could not unilaterally remove a prosecutor appointed by the district court.
Chief Judge Stanley Bastian granted preliminary relief after a hearing on Thursday. The court had selected Rogoff in July under the federal statute that permits district judges to fill a U.S. attorney vacancy when the executive branch has not produced a Senate-confirmed nominee. Rogoff was dismissed less than an hour after taking office.
Bastian concluded that the statutory arrangement does not leave a judicial appointee in office only at the president’s pleasure. He declared Rogoff the lawful holder of the office from the day he took the oath and barred the administration from obstructing his access to the position’s duties, resources and benefits.
The order is preliminary, not a final judgment. It nevertheless opens a direct separation-of-powers fight over an appointment device that Congress designed for prolonged vacancies. The Justice Department disputed the ruling, sought an immediate stay and said it would appeal. Bastian declined to pause the order while that challenge proceeds.
The case also sits beside a wider dispute over the administration’s use of interim and acting appointments in federal prosecutors’ offices. Rogoff’s claim is narrower: it asks who may remove a U.S. attorney once judges have exercised their statutory appointment power and before the Senate confirms a presidential nominee.
