(CNN) — A former US attorney in Washington state is suing the Trump administration for firing him less than one hour after a panel of federal judges unanimously voted to appoint him to the role.
The lawsuit is the first of its kind as the administration continues a longstanding struggle to nominate and confirm President Donald Trump’s picks for lead prosecutors across the country; exerting tight control over the federal justice system.
Roger Rogoff, a former judge and longtime prosecutor, was selected by the federal judges as the state’s top prosecutor for the Western District last week, only to be fired less than an hour later.
In his lawsuit filed Tuesday, Rogoff said the law clearly stated federal judges are allowed to select US attorneys until the role has been filled by a Senate-confirmed nominee.
“But no person has yet been nominated, let alone confirmed, to fill the vacancy,” his lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, which asks for the Trump administration to abide by the judges’ pick, argues that Rogoff’s firing violates the Constitution and gives Trump the ability to rewrite law.
“The President cannot grant himself the authority to make those interim appointments instead, nor can he rewrite (the law) to require presidential approval of the district court’s choice,” the lawsuit says.
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a social media post the day Rogoff was fired. “WDWA judges 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.”
CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.
Rogoff is not the first lead prosecutor appointed by a panel of district court judges to be swiftly fired by the Trump administration, though others have backed down and continued to let the Justice Department use leadership of its choosing.
Other US attorney’s offices have had tangles between their district court judges and the Trump administration. In several parts of the country, the Justice Department has put in place a top prosecutor whom the judges found wasn’t validly in that role, because too much time had passed before a replacement was confirmed by the Senate.
The most high-profile of that version of the court-versus-Trump standoff came in Northern Virginia last year, when a federal judge dismissed cases then-acting US Attorney Lindsey Halligan brought against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey after finding the prosecutor was not properly appointed nor Senate confirmed.
She soon left the post following the loss and continued fallout as well as criticism over her time leading the district. The Justice Department is still appealing the Comey and James case dismissals.
And a former Trump personal lawyer, Alina Habba, was forced to step down after an appeals court ruled she was improperly serving as the US attorney in New Jersey.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.
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