Washington — Roger Rogoff, the former top federal prosecutor in Seattle who was dismissed shortly after local federal judges placed him in the job, is taking the Trump administration to court, claiming his ouster was illegal.
Rogoff is asking a federal judge in Seattle to overturn President Trump’s decision to remove him last week and to declare that he remains the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington until a successor is formally nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
In his lawsuit, Rogoff contends that the firing ran afoul of the federal law that governs vacancies for U.S. attorneys, as well as the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. His attorneys argue that allowing the removal to stand would let the Trump administration “evade the Senate’s advice-and-consent role indefinitely.”
“Defendants’ attempt to fire [Rogoff] cannot stand,” his legal team wrote.
The dispute began after judges on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington said last week that they had appointed Rogoff as the region’s U.S. attorney. Federal law permits the attorney general to install an interim U.S. attorney for up to 120 days. After that period ends, the district court may either extend that person’s service or name its own U.S. attorney to serve until the Senate confirms a permanent replacement.
But within an hour of the judges selecting Rogoff, he received an email from the Executive Office of the President saying he had been removed. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also listed as a defendant in the case, later announced that Mr. Trump had fired Rogoff last Wednesday and criticized the district judges for making the appointment without consulting the administration.
“The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States. His removal of me, like his removal of other court-appointed U.S. Attorneys across the country, is illegal and cannot stand,” Rogoff said in a statement.
The Western District of Washington has been without a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney since mid-2023. After Mr. Trump returned to office for his second term, he removed Tessa Gorman, who had been appointed by the district’s judges in May 2024. The Seattle U.S. Attorney’s Office is now being led by Charles Neil Floyd, the first assistant U.S. attorney, while Mr. Trump has yet to name a nominee for the position.
Rogoff appears to be the first ousted U.S. attorney to challenge his firing by the president. The Trump administration has in several other areas terminated prosecutors who were put in place by judges there, including in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Nevada.
