Washington — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Trump from removing Roger Rogoff as Seattle’s top federal prosecutor, ruling that the president cannot unilaterally dismiss a U.S. attorney appointed by a federal district court.
U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian issued the ruling from the bench after a hearing and granted Rogoff’s request to return to the position until the Senate confirms a successor. Trump nominated Simon Peter Serrano last month to become U.S. attorney for Seattle.
Bastian said Rogoff is the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington and has been the “rightful holder of that office” since July 15. That was the day the district’s federal judges appointed him and he took the oath of office.
Mr. Trump fired Rogoff less than an hour after the swearing-in ceremony.
“The real issue to be decided in this case by this court appears to be one of first impression: can the president fire a U.S. attorney appointed by the district court?” Bastian asked. He later answered, “The answer to the question the court is faced with is no. The president cannot unilaterally fire a United States attorney appointed by the district court.”
The Justice Department said it intends to appeal and will immediately seek to halt the ruling.
Bastian also determined that Charles Neil Floyd, the office’s first assistant who had been running its day-to-day operations, “is not the United States attorney” for the Western District of Washington. The judge said Floyd’s authority to carry out the duties of the position had been “improperly granted.”
Mr. Trump signed an order last week instructing Floyd “to perform the functions and duties of the office of United States Attorney.”
“Allowing the president to fire a U.S. attorney appointed by the district court would upend the framework created by the Constitution and the statutes, which together balance the president’s right to appoint and the Senate’s right to confirm,” Bastian said. He added that such authority would remove the incentive to nominate someone capable of winning Senate confirmation. “In other words, the executive and legislative branches are supposed to and encouraged to work together,” he said.
Under the oral order, the Trump administration may not enforce Rogoff’s dismissal until the U.S. attorney position is occupied by a Senate-confirmed nominee. The administration also cannot claim to remove Rogoff, withhold the benefits or resources attached to the job, or prevent him from performing his official duties.
Bastian further ordered the administration not to recognize anyone other than Rogoff as U.S. attorney.
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“The court finds it is in the public interest that the law be followed and that Mr. Rogoff take the office to which he has already taken the oath of office,” the judge said.
Seattle’s U.S. attorney’s office has not had a Senate-confirmed leader since mid-2023. After Trump took office, he dismissed Tessa Gorman, who had been serving as the office’s top prosecutor on an interim basis before district judges appointed her to the position in May 2024.
Floyd assumed the interim U.S. attorney role in October, but that appointment was limited to 120 days and expired in February. He then became first assistant U.S. attorney, the office’s second-ranking official, and said he would continue overseeing its operations.
Since Trump had not nominated a permanent U.S. attorney for Seattle, the district judges used their authority under the federal law governing vacancies in the position to appoint Rogoff. The statute permits the attorney general to name an interim U.S. attorney for up to 120 days. After that period, the district court may extend the appointment or select its own U.S. attorney until the Senate confirms a replacement.
After his swift dismissal, Rogoff filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that his removal violated the law. Without a court order, he warned, the administration’s “actions will permit the Executive Branch to evade the Senate’s advice-and-consent role indefinitely.”
Mr. Trump has attempted to install preferred U.S. attorney candidates in several other jurisdictions, including Nevada, New York, Virginia and New Jersey. In those cases—some involving a different appointment process—federal courts ruled that the selections were unlawful.
Rogoff nevertheless appears to be the first removed federal prosecutor to challenge his dismissal in court.
