LOS ANGELES — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Republican Bill Essayli is not legally the top U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.
The move is the latest obstacle to the Trump administration’s efforts to expand Handpicked Acting U.S. Attorneys beyond the 120-day limit set by federal law. The strategy was designed to circumvent confirmation by the U.S. Senate — which typically requires some degree of bipartisan support.
Essayli “illegally serves as the ‘de facto’ United States Attorney,” U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright wrote.
The order will not take effect until the court rules on the government’s motion to stay pending appeal. Essayli said he disagreed with the court order. He said the president and attorney general “have every right to select supervisors within the Department of Justice.”
“Ultimately, this issue will be decided by the Supreme Court, and I look forward to serving in my current position until then,” he said in a statement.
The former state lawmaker was appointed by the Trump administration last year to serve as acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles. Just before the 120-day deadline, then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi appointed him as first assistant U.S. attorney.
But in October 2025, Seabright disqualified Essayli from overseeing several criminal cases, concluding that he had remained in the temporary position longer than the law allowed. He was allowed to continue serving as First Assistant United States Attorney.
The administration never appointed another acting U.S. Attorney, effectively making Essayli the lead prosecutor. He has been one of the faces of the administration’s feuds with California over everything from allegations of health care fraud to recent claims of widespread non-citizen voting. California has rebuffed federal efforts to block election officials from counting state ballots. up to 20,000 people Trump administration suspects are not US citizens.
On Tuesday, Seabright wrote that Essayli’s status faced new questions following an August ruling. decision of the court of appeal in a similar case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Sigal Chattah, the Trump administration’s original choice for U.S. attorney in Nevada, was illegally appointed to lead federal prosecutions in the state.
Seabright wrote that Bondi’s appointment of Essayli as special counsel and his designation as FAUSA “are identical” to his appointment of Chattah in the same roles.
Despite a new designation by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche that removed some of Essayli’s duties, the judge said “nothing in the revised designation order materially distinguishes it from the Chattah designation order found to be inappropriate” in the appeals court ruling.
The judges found that a number of acting U.S. attorneys appointed by the administration are holding their positions illegally.
Last year, a New Jersey judge disqualified Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba and in January, a judge ruled that Jean Sarconé was not legally acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.
Essayli is a former federal prosecutor and Republican lawmaker. In the Legislature, he championed conservative causes and criticized the state’s COVID-19 restrictions. He has been outspoken against California policies aimed at protecting immigrants living in the country illegally, and he has aggressively pursued people protesting Trump’s tightening of immigration enforcement in Southern California.
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