WASHINGTON (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Seattle who was fired last week less than an hour after being sworn in sued over his termination Tuesday, teeing up a legal challenge to the Trump administration's efforts to install its own picks in the powerful Justice Department posts.
Roger Rogoff is the latest in a series of judicially appointed U.S. attorneys to be ousted by the Trump administration from their posts but is believed to be the first
of that group to sue over the removal. His action creates a court case that will test the Justice Department’s authority to appoint — and fire — prosecutors.
Rogoff was unanimously appointed to the job of U.S. attorney for western Washington by the federal judges in the district. But shortly after he was sworn in last Wednesday, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him that President Donald Trump had ordered his termination.
The lawsuit contends that the abrupt firing was unconstitutional and disregarded the authority of the judges of the district to name Rogoff to the job until the vacancy could be filled through a Senate-confirmed nominee.
“The President’s actions violate the law, and they ignore the protections of the Constitution of the United States. Rogoff said in a statement issued through the law firm representing him. "His removal of me, like his removal of other court-appointed U.S. attorneys across the country, is illegal and cannot stand."
U.S. attorneys, top federal prosecutors who oversee regional Justice Department outposts across the country, are typically nominated by the president and then confirmed by the Senate. In the case of a vacancy, attorneys general do have the authority to name an interim U.S. attorney who can serve for 120 days. When temporary appointments expire before a nominee is confirmed, the judges in a judicial district can name a U.S. attorney, as happened in Rogoff's case.
But under Trump, the Justice Department has sought to leave unconfirmed prosecutors in their positions indefinitely or has moved to fire prosecutors appointed by the courts.
The Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday that “the district court did not coordinate with DOJ on this selection. Consistent with other firings of this type, this is wholly within the President’s authority.”
Even before Rogoff was fired, the lawsuit notes, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signaled his intent to fire whomever the judges selected, noting that they did not have the president's support.
Hours later, after he was fired, Blanche posted: “District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them." Judges from the state's western district, he said, "abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration. Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President."
Rogoff's district has not had a Senate-confirmed U.S. attorney since 2023. Rogoff submitted his name for consideration with the federal bench last January after the judges signaled their intent to fill a vacancy created by the end of the 120-day term of Charles Neil Floyd, who had been named to the job last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Other jurisdictions that have seen tussles between the judiciary and the administration over the prosecution posts include New Jersey, where Trump's former personal lawyer, Alina Habba, resigned in December after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.
Lindsey Halligan, another of Trump's personal lawyers who was installed by the administration, left her position as an acting U.S. attorney in Virginia after a judge concluded her appointment was unlawful and that indictments she brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.
