Overview
- A unanimous three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit affirmed a lower-court ruling on Monday that Sigal Chattah was not lawfully serving as Nevada’s acting U.S. attorney.
- The court found the Justice Department’s tactic — having Chattah resign her interim post then naming her first assistant so she could continue leading the office — breached the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
- The decision disqualifies Chattah from supervising the prosecutions in three specified cases but left the underlying indictments intact for now and did not rule on whether those charges must be dismissed.
- The Department of Justice says it will seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court, and the White House nominee for the permanent Nevada U.S. attorney job, George Kelesis, remains pending before the Senate.
- The ruling joins several similar federal court decisions in other districts that have rejected the same appointment workaround, raising broader questions about the use of interim retitling to bypass Senate confirmation and the practical effects on ongoing prosecutions.