Federal judge rules Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as top U.S. prosecutor in Los Angeles

A federal judge ruled Tuesday, Oct. 27, that Bill Essayli is not lawfully running the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

Senior U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote that Essayli "is unlawfully serving as a 'de facto' United States Attorney." He disqualified Essayli from overseeing two criminal cases, those of Jaime Hector Ramirez and Tu Anh Tran.

The disqualifications are not yet in effect. Seabright delayed them while he considers an anticipated Justice Department request for a stay pending appeal.

How Essayli ended up in charge

The Trump administration named Essayli, a Republican and former state lawmaker, acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California last year. Federal law caps acting service at 120 days. Just before that mark, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him first assistant U.S. attorney and special attorney.

The administration never nominated or installed anyone else, which left Essayli effectively in charge. Presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys need Senate confirmation, which usually takes some bipartisan support.

In October 2025, Seabright ruled Essayli was "not lawfully serving" as acting U.S. attorney and disqualified him from several cases. But the judge let him keep working as first assistant. That is the arrangement Seabright has now rejected.

What changed

The trigger was an August ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It found that Sigal Chattah, the administration's initial pick in Nevada, was unlawfully appointed to lead federal prosecutions there.

Seabright wrote that Bondi's designation of Essayli "is identical" to her designation of Chattah. Attorney General Todd Blanche has since issued a revised designation that trimmed a few of Essayli's duties. Seabright said "nothing in the revised designation order materially distinguishes it" from the one the appeals court rejected.

The judge concluded the Justice Department delegated powers so broad that Essayli in effect held the U.S. attorney's job.

Seabright declined to dismiss the indictments in the two cases. He found Ramirez and Tran had not shown the substantial prejudice required. Essayli is barred from participating in or supervising those prosecutions, including overseeing the attorneys handling them.

Essayli's response

Essayli said he disagrees with the order. In a statement, he said the president and the attorney general "have every right to select supervisors within the Justice Department."

"Ultimately, this question will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current role until then," he said.

H. Dean Steward, the defense attorney who filed the renewed challenge in August, called the ruling "a victory for the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution." He added: "The Trump administration ignored the laws governing the appointments of U.S. Attorneys and got caught in Los Angeles."

Not an isolated loss

The Los Angeles ruling is one of several against the administration's interim-prosecutor strategy. Alina Habba stepped down as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor in December after an appeals court found her appointment unlawful. In Virginia, a judge's finding that Lindsey Halligan was unlawfully appointed led to dismissal of the indictments against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The pattern is hard to wave off. The Senate confirmation requirement is written into the Constitution and the statutes. Courts in New Jersey, Nevada, Virginia and now Los Angeles have found the administration's workarounds fall short of it.

Essayli and the California voting fight

Essayli is a prominent face of the administration's fight with California, including over claims of widespread noncitizen voting. The Justice Department sued to block California officials from counting ballots of up to 20,000 people it suspects are not U.S. citizens. California has pushed back.

Law professors Rick Hasen of UCLA and Derek Muller of Notre Dame have criticized the DOJ's legal theory. Muller noted there is no federal law governing how states verify citizenship. Hasen said he would give a related DOJ complaint in Alaska "a failing grade if it were written by one of my students." President Trump said of the Alaska suit: "I'm the one that said do it."

Talking Points Memo argues that Essayli, along with U.S. attorneys in Spokane and Seattle, is being used to push a pretext of noncitizen voting to interfere in the midterms. That is TPM's characterization. The Justice Department's stated position is that it is enforcing federal election law, and Essayli has facilitated arrests and prosecutions of alleged noncitizen voters.

The department is also putting resources at polling places. In Chicago, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, whose appointment is not the subject of any ruling in these reports, announced a hotline at 312-469-6157 for reports of fraud and voter intimidation. Democratic and nonprofit groups plan to deploy tens of thousands of their own monitors. The Justice Department is expected to run its largest-ever monitoring program.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Seabright's order does not take effect until he rules on the government's stay motion, so Essayli keeps working for now.

Whether the 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court takes up the question is the open issue. Essayli has said he expects the justices to settle it. Until then, every case his office files carries a question about who has the authority to run it.