DOJ Prosecutor Says He’ll Just Keep Prosecuting Despite Court Ruling He Was Illegally Appointed

from the because-fuck-America,-that’s-why dept

Another “fuck you” has been delivered to federal courts by the Trump administration. This time, the extended middle finger is embodied by (extremely recently now-former) US Attorney Bill Essayli.

Essayli has made headlines here before, mainly for yelling ineffectively at prosecutors who were unable to convert bullshit cases against anti-ICE protesters into federal indictments. Essayli is angry, the papers said. Trump, however, seems to like him. In fact, he seems to like him so much he didn’t even bother to get Essayli legally appointed.

That’s what a federal judge ruled late last week.

Bill Essayli, Trump’s pick in April to temporarily lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, should have departed the post by July 31 under a 120-day limit imposed by federal law, U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright concluded.

An unusual maneuver by Attorney General Pam Bondi to extend Essayli’s tenure into 2026 violated federal appointment laws, the Hawaii-based George W. Bush appointee ruled.

“Simply stated: Essayli unlawfully assumed the role of Acting United States Attorney for the Central District of California,” Seabright concluded. “Essayli may not perform the functions and duties of the United States Attorney … He is disqualified from serving in that role.”

OK, there’s a reason rules like this are in place. And Bill Essayli, along with Pam Bondi and the rest of the Trump administration, are demonstrating why rules like these are in place. These rules normally — NORMALLY — discourage purges and the installation of loyalists. This is especially important in entities like the Department of Justice which, like all federal agencies, is supposed to serve the public, rather than the vengeful whims of an aspiring autocrat.

When these get ignored, Bill Essayli happens. You get a Trump puppet engaging in vengeful prosecutions of Trump’s personal enemies, along with tons of bullshit prosecutions of people engaged in their First Amendment protected right to complain about the government.

Now, we’d normally expect someone to step down for the time being and cede power to another, more legally qualified person until everything gets back in line, legally speaking. But, of course, that isn’t the case here. Essayli has gone far beyond the expected “you can’t fire me, I refuse to be fired” response common to Trump administration officials. Instead, he’s telling the court that telling him he had no legally derived prosecution power has only made him a more powerful prosecutor.

“We’re actually quite relieved,” Essayli said in an interview. “The judge has made it clear that regardless of my title I’m cleared to keep running the office, I’m very happy with the outcome.”

Yeah, that’s not actually what the court said. And it still has the power to appoint someone to take Essayli’s place until someone actually confirmed by the Senate ascends to his office. But since this hasn’t happened yet, Essayli assumes it won’t happen for… the next three years, I guess.

And that’s part and parcel of this administration’s incessant shitbirdery. Whenever someone tells them they can’t do something, they just pretend no one has said anything. And if they can be bothered to pay attention to the words used by federal judges in rulings against them, they head to The Nazi Bar to rant about liberal activist judges and insist no law is capable of constraining the leader of the Law and Order party.

If there’s any justice in the world (and there’s hardly any of that), Essayli, Bondi, and everyone else associated with this stillbirth of an administration will become terminally unemployable. But for now, we’re just going to have to suffer through a bunch of people who refuse to cede power, no matter what any other branch of the government says.

Filed Under: bill essayli, doj, pam bondi, trump administration