President Donald Trump’s choice for overseeing federal criminal prosecutions in Chicago has been appointed on a temporary basis, and there is potential for the role to become permanent.
Andrew Boutros is the highest ranking federal law enforcement official in the state of Illinois.
As of Wednesday, the individual has been serving as the U.S. Attorney in charge of the influential Northern District of Illinois office for 100 days. The decision on whether Boutros will continue in this position will be made by the full court of district judges.
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With a swish of a pen on April 7, Boutros assumed the role of U.S. Attorney overseeing the storied Northern District of Illinois.
Boutros’ appointment, executed at the behest of Attorney General Pam Bondi, came as an interim assignment. Federal statute mandates a 120-day window.
The priorities set by this office will determine the intensity with which issues such as gun violence and white-collar fraud are pursued, highlighting their importance in shaping prosecution strategies.
Gil Soffer, ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst
ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer, a former federal prosecutor himself, explained, “At the expiration of 120 days, the district court can choose either to appoint him on a more permanent basis or decline to appoint him.”
In a statement Chief Judge Virginia Kendall, who oversees the district court, told the ABC7 I-Team, “Pursuant to this statute, the district court judges will consider the matter during an executive session prior to August 5, 2025.”
August 5 will mark the 120th day of Boutros’ appointment.
“It’s rare enough that a U.S. attorney is appointed to the position in the way that Boutros was, it would be even rarer for a court to decline to make the appointment more permanent,” Soffer told the I-Team.
On Monday, a district court in the Northern District of New York did just that, declining to appoint President Trump’s pick, John Sarcone III, to permanently lead the prosecutors office there.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago hasn’t had a permanent, senate-confirmed leader since John Lausch left the role in March 2023. President Biden’s pick to fill the job, April Perry, was never confirmed.
The I-Team has previously reported that the number of indictments from the Northern District of Illinois has dropped steadily since 2019.
Since April 7, when Andrew Boutros assumed top prosecutor job, a spokesperson says federal prosecutors in Chicago have filed 120 cases with 167 defendants. That’s a 30% increase over the same period last year, April 7 through July 15, 2024, where prosecutors in the office filed 92 cases with 117 defendants.
For the office that’s taken down drug lords and locked up a long roster of former governors and politicians, the U.S. attorney in charge dictates the direction of criminal prosecution.
“It affects everybody in the state,” Soffer said. “His priorities will make the difference between whether gun violence is pursued aggressively or isn’t, whether white collar fraud is pursued aggressively or isn’t, and so on. It’s a very, very important decision that affects millions of people.”
Under Boutros, the office continues to shrink. In February, the Northern District of Illinois told the I-Team they had 144 prosecutors. Now they have just 126, and that includes prosecutors who took the so called “fork in the road” retirement in cuts by the “Department of Government Efficiency.”
Despite that, a spokesperson says the indictments are up 140% for the first 6 months of this year over last year.
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