{"id":16798,"date":"2026-07-25T13:16:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16798"},"modified":"2026-07-25T13:16:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T08:16:02","slug":"us-attorney-who-trump-fired-minutes-after-he-got-the-job-sues-to-get-it-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=16798","title":{"rendered":"US attorney who Trump fired minutes after he got the job sues to get it back"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a data-ylk=\"slk:lawsuit;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28504052-roger-rogoff-lawsuit\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">lawsuit<\/a> is the first of its kind as the administration continues a longstanding struggle to nominate and confirm President Donald Trump&#8217;s picks for lead prosecutors across the country; exerting tight control over the federal justice system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Roger Rogoff, a former judge and longtime prosecutor, was selected by the federal judges as the state&#8217;s top prosecutor for the Western District last week, only to be fired less than an hour later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;But no person has yet been nominated, let alone confirmed, to fill the vacancy,&#8221; his lawsuit states.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The lawsuit, which asks for the Trump administration to abide by the judges&#8217; pick, argues that Rogoff&#8217;s firing violates the Constitution and gives Trump the ability to rewrite law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;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&#8217;s choice,&#8221; the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,&#8221; acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote in a social media post the day Rogoff was fired. &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Other US attorney&#8217;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&#8217;t validly in that role, because too much time had passed before a replacement was confirmed by the Senate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">She soon <a data-ylk=\"slk:left the post;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/01\/20\/politics\/lindsey-halligan-judge-vitriol-charade?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">left the post<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">And a former Trump personal lawyer, <a data-ylk=\"slk:Alina Habba;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/08\/politics\/alina-habba-resigns-acting-us-attorney-for-new-jersey?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Alina Habba<\/a>, was forced to step down after an appeals court ruled she was improperly serving as the US attorney in New Jersey.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><em>CNN&#8217;s Katelyn Polantz contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at <a data-ylk=\"slk:CNN.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/account\/register?source=external-feeds_iluminar&amp;cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo&amp;registration_email_campaign=https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/newsletters\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/cd5dc1450bd1c4a076b7c1a65070ce760868ff9fbca4e848671cdc83d32c73ca\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w960_h540;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fcnn_articles_875%2Ffe17b9ad1c11eba1726fe6c43f18e53e","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}