Judge blocks Trump firing of court-appointed prosecutor Rogoff

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump cannot fire court-appointed U.S. attorneys, reinstating Roger Rogoff as Western Washington's top federal prosecutor. In the Roger Rogoff attorney lawsuit, Judge Stanley Bastian said the president lacks unilateral power to remove a district-court appointee and ordered the Justice Department not to interfere.

Key Takeaways

• U.S. District Judge Stanley Bastian ruled from the bench that Trump cannot unilaterally fire a U.S. attorney appointed by a district court.
• Bastian granted a preliminary injunction restoring Rogoff to the Western District of Washington post he held since judges appointed him on July 15.
• Rogoff had been fired by email less than an hour after taking the job; he then sued Trump and the attorney general.
• Trump's later nomination of Pete Serrano does not make Serrano U.S. attorney until the Senate confirms him, the judge said.
• Politico described the decision as a major loss for Trump's push to install loyalists in key prosecutorial roles.

The dispute over who runs federal prosecutions in Seattle's Western District of Washington has become a high-stakes test of presidential power. It also shows how statutes and Senate confirmation still shape who holds the nation's top local federal law-enforcement jobs.

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What did the judge decide in the Roger Rogoff attorney lawsuit?

Bastian granted Rogoff's request for a preliminary injunction and reinstated him as U.S. attorney. He also ordered the president and the Justice Department not to interfere with Rogoff's duties.

"The president cannot unilaterally fire a United States attorney appointed by the district court," Bastian said from the bench, according to Politico.

Doing so, he added, "would upend the framework created by the Constitution and the statutes, which together balance the president's right to appoint and the Senate's right to confirm."

A preliminary injunction is issued when the party seeking it shows a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm without relief, and that the order serves the public interest. Bastian found those standards met and held Rogoff has been the rightful U.S. attorney since the district judges appointed him on July 15.

The Western Washington judges who appointed Rogoff recused themselves. Bastian, from the Eastern District of Washington, was brought in to preside.

Why was Roger Rogoff fired, and how did he get the job?

In July, the district's 17 sitting federal judges appointed Rogoff after Trump had not formally nominated his own pick for U.S. attorney. Trump had installed Charles Neil Floyd as interim about a year earlier and later kept him in place as "first assistant" U.S. attorney, the Seattle Times reported.

Typically, a U.S. attorney is supposed to be approved by the U.S. Senate. Floyd's name was never advanced. Under a federal statute, a district's federal judges may appoint a U.S. attorney when there is no formal nomination or Senate hearing.

Rogoff was Western Washington's new U.S. attorney for less than an hour before Trump fired him by email. After the firing, Rogoff sued Trump and his attorney general, arguing the removal was unlawful under that statutory framework.

Rogoff previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, working on violent crime, gangs, and firearms cases. Gov. Jay Inslee appointed him a King County Superior Court judge in 2013 and, in 2022, named him the first director of the state's Office of Independent Investigations, which reviews police deadly-force cases.

Does Trump's nomination of Pete Serrano change who is U.S. attorney now?

Last month, Trump nominated Pete Serrano, a former state attorney general candidate who has been the first assistant U.S. attorney in Spokane. Sen. Patty Murray quickly opposed the choice, saying she will be "using every tool" she has to block the nomination.

Bastian said that nomination does not make Serrano the U.S. attorney in Western Washington until he is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, the court-appointed prosecutor remains in place under the judge's order.

Floyd will be cleaning out his desk at the downtown federal court building, according to the Seattle Times. Rogoff offered little immediate comment Thursday, saying only that he was "going to meet with my staff" in the U.S. attorney's office right after Bastian read the opinion from the bench.

Attorneys representing the Trump administration left the courtroom without comment.

Why does this ruling matter beyond Seattle?

Politico framed the decision as a major loss for Trump's effort to install loyalists in key positions. The core question was not whether courts may appoint a temporary U.S. attorney when a vacancy persists—the fight was over whether the president can remove that court appointee at will.

By answering no, Bastian reinforced the dual track Congress and the Constitution set: presidents nominate, the Senate confirms, and district judges may fill gaps under statute without the executive simply erasing those appointments by email.

The ruling restores Rogoff for now and bars the administration from treating anyone else as Western Washington's chief federal prosecutor while the injunction stands. Attorneys for the Trump administration left without comment after the bench ruling.

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This story is developing. Primary reporting is drawn from Politico and the Seattle Times coverage of Bastian's bench ruling on Oct. 1, 2026.