By MICHAEL HILL
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — In a significant legal decision, a judge has removed a Trump-era federal prosecutor from leading investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James. The ruling, delivered on Thursday, determined that the prosecutor was not legally appointed as an acting U.S. attorney.
U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield halted subpoenas initiated by John Sarcone, who was serving as the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York. The judge emphasized that the Department of Justice failed to adhere to the required legal procedures after Sarcone’s term was not extended by the judiciary last year.
This ruling aligns with decisions by other federal judges nationwide, who have found that certain actions by senior federal prosecutors were invalid. These prosecutors were appointed through unconventional methods devised during the Trump administration, bypassing the standard U.S. Senate confirmation process or continuing to serve until local federal judges made a determination on their tenure.
Judge Schofield stated, “When the Executive branch circumvents congressional constraints and uses that power to launch criminal investigations against political opponents, it operates without legitimate authority. Subpoenas issued under such authority lack validity. The subpoenas are nullified, and Mr. Sarcone is barred from any further involvement in the ongoing investigations,” she declared in her ruling.
Judge Schofield further outlined that Sarcone’s position as acting U.S. attorney is illegitimate, rendering any “actions he has taken or will take in that role to be void or subject to nullification, as they rely on authority he does not lawfully possess.”
James, a Democrat, had challenged Sarcone’s authority after he issued subpoenas seeking information about lawsuits she filed against Republican President Donald Trump, claiming he had committed fraud in his business dealings, and separately against the National Rifle Association and some of its former leaders.
Justice Department lawyers argued Sarcone was appointed properly and that the subpoenas were valid. James claims the inquiry into her lawsuits is part of a campaign of baseless investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.
James’ office issued a statement calling Thursday’s ruling “an important win for the rule of law.”
“We will continue to defend our office’s successful litigation from this administration’s political attacks,” the statement said.
Emails seeking comment were sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice.
Last month, a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sitting in Philadelphia sided with a lower-court judge’s ruling disqualifying Alina Habba from serving as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor.
In November, a federal judge dismissed criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and James after concluding that the hastily installed prosecutor who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was unlawfully appointed to the position of interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
A similar dynamic has played out in Nevada, where a federal judge disqualified the Trump administration’s pick to be U.S. attorney there. And a federal judge in Los Angeles disqualified the acting U.S. attorney in Southern California from several cases after concluding he had stayed in the job longer than allowed.
In New York, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed Sarcone to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in March. When his 120-day term elapsed, judges in the district declined to keep him in the post.
Bondi then appointed Sarcone as a special attorney and designated him first assistant U.S. attorney for the district, moves that federal officials say allow him to serve as an acting U.S. attorney.
The judge, who sits in New York City, took issue with the Justice Department’s actions.
“(O)n the same day that the judges declined to extend Mr. Sarcone’s appointment, the Department took coordinated steps — through personnel moves and shifting titles — to install Mr. Sarcone as Acting U.S. Attorney. Federal law does not permit such a workaround,” she wrote.
Sarcone was part of Trump’s legal team during the 2016 presidential campaign and worked for the U.S. General Services Administration as the regional administrator for the Northeast and Caribbean during Trump’s first term.
Schofield said the federal government could reissue the subpoenas at the direction of a lawfully authorized attorney.
Joshua Naftalis, a Manhattan federal prosecutor for 11 years before entering private practice in 2023, said Schofield was agreeing with the other judges who have disputed the authority of designated top prosecutors.
“It’s always a big deal when judges say that the U.S. attorney doesn’t have the authority,” he said.
He said subpoenas aren’t typically issued by a single prosecutor so the ruling might not directly affect other investigations brought through the prosecutor’s office.
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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed from New York.
