Trump US Attorney in New Mexico Deemed Improperly Appointed
New Mexico’s top federal prosecutor is unlawfully serving in the role, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in the latest judgment against the Trump administration’s moves to install individuals perceived as loyal to the president in several US attorney posts.
The Justice Department acted beyond its statutory authority when it appointed Ryan Ellison as acting US attorney for the District of New Mexico after his interim term expired, Senior US District Judge David Nuffer said in his decision granting in part criminal defendants’ challenge to Ellison’s status.
Nuffer, however, ruled that Ellison may stay in the office as first assistant, a title that usually belongs to a second-in-command who leads the office during a US attorney’s vacancy. The opinion is similar to a separate ruling by another judge that effectively allowed Bill Essayli to stay on as the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.
Ellison, who has sparred with federal judges over his district’s mass arrests of migrants, is one of six temporary US attorneys to be challenged in court as Donald Trump’s administration tests the bounds of federal vacancy laws when installing top federal prosecutors, especially in heavily blue states. Federal judges have so far ruled that the Trump administration’s appointments run afoul of federal laws, though most remain in their offices as first assistant or another designation by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-us-attorney-pick-in-new-mexico-deemed-improperly-appointed