Roger Rogoff sued the Trump administration after being fired 54 minutes after he was sworn in as the top government attorney in the Western District of Washington. The Trump And Rogoff Legal Battle now puts a federal judge in charge of deciding whether that removal was unlawful and whether Rogoff can return until the vacancy is filled by presidential nomination and Senate confirmation.
Rogoff was unanimously appointed by a panel of federal judges after the position in Seattle had been vacant for months. He then took the oath and was told President Donald Trump had fired him before he had been on the job an hour.
Rogoff lawsuit names Trump
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, names Donald Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department as defendants. Rogoff asked a federal judge to declare the firing unlawful and let him resume the assignment while the post remains open.
Jason A. Rittereiser, who represents Rogoff, wrote that the president had “attempted to negate Congress’s exercise of its constitutionally enumerated power.” The filing says the firing violated federal law and the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
Todd Blanche on temporary appointments
The case turns on how temporary appointments work when the Senate has not produced a confirmed nominee. Under the rules described in the filing, the attorney general can name a temporary U.S. attorney for 120 days; if no Senate-confirmed nominee is in place when that period ends, federal judges in the district can appoint one.
On Wednesday, Blanche wrote on X that “District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them.” He also said district court judges had “abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration.”
The White House referred questions about the lawsuit to the Justice Department, and a Justice Department spokesperson said the district court did not coordinate with DOJ on its selection. Rogoff is the first to sue the Trump administration after being fired as a U.S. attorney following an appointment by federal judges.
Western District of Washington dispute
The filing comes against a broader pattern the Justice Department under Trump has tried to keep unconfirmed federal prosecutors in their positions indefinitely. During Trump’s second term, multiple judges have ruled that government attorneys were serving unlawfully after then-Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed them.
That backdrop includes Lindsey Halligan, who left her role as acting U.S. attorney in Virginia after a federal judge ruled that she had been unlawfully appointed. A panel of federal judges unanimously appointed longtime litigator James Hundley to replace Halligan, and the Justice Department fired him.
Rogoff’s request is narrow: a ruling that restores him only until the vacancy is filled through the normal nomination-and-confirmation process. That puts the next step on a judge, who has to decide whether a federal prosecutor appointed by judges can be removed almost immediately after taking office.
