{"id":144025,"date":"2026-02-13T16:06:43","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/13\/doj-flames-judiciary-over-impertinent-demand-for-competent-us-attorneys\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T16:06:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:06:43","slug":"doj-flames-judiciary-over-impertinent-demand-for-competent-us-attorneys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/02\/13\/doj-flames-judiciary-over-impertinent-demand-for-competent-us-attorneys\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Flames Judiciary Over Impertinent Demand For Competent US Attorneys"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department\u2019s war with the judiciary over US Attorneys continues to escalate, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche gleefully pouring gas on the flames. This week\u2019s conflagration involves the Northern District of New York, which has been officially rudderless since January 8, when Judge Lorna Schofield disqualified<\/a> John Sarcone, III as acting US Attorney. She also quashed the subpoenas he\u2019d issued to New York Attorney General Letitia James over fraud prosecutions of Trump and the NRA \u2014 the reason he\u2019d been hired in the first place, despite having zero prosecutorial experience.<\/p>\n

Because of the Senate\u2019s blue slip rule, Trump is unable to install cronies to lead prosecutors offices in the blue states where his enemies tend to live. That\u2019s a huge headache for Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose job depends on producing the abusive indictments her boss requires. <\/p>\n

And so the DOJ has resorted to various wheezes, including appointing said cronies as special attorneys invested with all the power of a US Attorney (wink, wink). Courts have uniformly rejected this attempt to evade the requirement of Senate confirmation, and eventually Trump\u2019s personal lawyers Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan quit pretending to be prosecutors and wandered off. The executive and judiciary have reached an uneasy detente, where Bondi leaves said crony in charge as the First Assistant US Attorney, absent the prestige and job title.<\/p>\n

But this agreement is fragile, thanks to 28 USC \u00a7 546(d), which allows judges in the district to appoint a lawyer to lead the office if the position is vacant. Pursuant to \u00a7 546(d), Judges in the Eastern District of Virginia happily blessed the continued tenure of Erik Seibert, the career prosecutor pushed out in favor of Halligan after he refused to file garbage indictments of Tish James and Jim Comey. <\/p>\n

But when judges in the District of New Jersey refused to keep Alina Habba and installed a career prosecutor instead, Bondi angrily accused them of going \u201crogue\u201d and threatening the president\u2019s Article II powers.<\/p>\n

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.@USAttyHabba has been doing a great job in making NJ safe again. Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the First Assistant. <\/p>\n

Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Up in Albany, the judges appear to have tired of Sarcone, whose tenure has been decidedly lackluster. Aside from the debacle with the subpoenas for AG James, Sarcone seems to have fabricated details<\/a> of an \u201cattack\u201d outside a hotel, leading reporters to discover<\/a> that his claimed residence was vacant and boarded up. Back in July, Sarcone told<\/a> reporters that the court had opted to retain him, prompting the judges to issue a press release<\/a> stating that they\u2019d done no such thing. Perhaps this is why Trump never even officially nominated Sarcone for the job \u2014 in fact, he never nominated anyone. In June, Sarcone told Law.com<\/a> that the president knew he\u2019d never get a US Attorney confirmed because of the blue slip rule, but would soon nominate Sarcone for a seat on the federal bench. This makes complete sense \u2026 if you have no idea how the blue slip rule works.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, after months of waiting for the executive branch to rouse itself from its torpor, the district judges exercised their statutory authority to appoint<\/a> Donald Kinsella, a highly competent practitioner with five decades of legal experience.<\/p>\n

At which point, the Justice Department lost its shit \u2026 again.<\/p>\n

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Judges don\u2019t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS<\/a> does. See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella. https:\/\/t.co\/XUYRgaqG2T<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) February 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cJudges don\u2019t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,\u201d DAG Blanche tweeted, announcing that he\u2019d fired Kinsella just five hours after his appointment. Of course, @POTUS has not<\/em> picked a US Attorney. And even if he had, he\u2019d still have to get that person confirmed by the Senate. <\/p>\n

Blanche is currently trying<\/a> to get the judges in New Jersey to anoint his 30-year-old chief of staff as US Attorney under \u00a7 546(d). But at this point, he\u2019d probably have better luck trying to bully Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley into ditching the blue slip rule.<\/p>\n

Oh, well, what\u2019s the worst that can happen at all those US Attorneys offices in three more years?<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The post DOJ Flames Judiciary Over Impertinent Demand For Competent US Attorneys<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s war with the judiciary over US Attorneys continues to escalate, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche gleefully pouring gas on the flames. This week\u2019s conflagration involves the Northern District of New York, which has been officially rudderless since January 8, when Judge Lorna Schofield disqualified<\/a> John Sarcone, III as acting US Attorney. She also quashed the subpoenas he\u2019d issued to New York Attorney General Letitia James over fraud prosecutions of Trump and the NRA \u2014 the reason he\u2019d been hired in the first place, despite having zero prosecutorial experience.<\/p>\n

Because of the Senate\u2019s blue slip rule, Trump is unable to install cronies to lead prosecutors offices in the blue states where his enemies tend to live. That\u2019s a huge headache for Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose job depends on producing the abusive indictments her boss requires. <\/p>\n

And so the DOJ has resorted to various wheezes, including appointing said cronies as special attorneys invested with all the power of a US Attorney (wink, wink). Courts have uniformly rejected this attempt to evade the requirement of Senate confirmation, and eventually Trump\u2019s personal lawyers Alina Habba and Lindsey Halligan quit pretending to be prosecutors and wandered off. The executive and judiciary have reached an uneasy detente, where Bondi leaves said crony in charge as the First Assistant US Attorney, absent the prestige and job title.<\/p>\n

But this agreement is fragile, thanks to 28 USC \u00a7 546(d), which allows judges in the district to appoint a lawyer to lead the office if the position is vacant. Pursuant to \u00a7 546(d), Judges in the Eastern District of Virginia happily blessed the continued tenure of Erik Seibert, the career prosecutor pushed out in favor of Halligan after he refused to file garbage indictments of Tish James and Jim Comey. <\/p>\n

But when judges in the District of New Jersey refused to keep Alina Habba and installed a career prosecutor instead, Bondi angrily accused them of going \u201crogue\u201d and threatening the president\u2019s Article II powers.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

.@USAttyHabba has been doing a great job in making NJ safe again. Nonetheless, politically minded judges refused to allow her to continue in her position, replacing Alina with the First Assistant. <\/p>\n

Accordingly, the First Assistant United States Attorney in New Jersey has just\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) July 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Up in Albany, the judges appear to have tired of Sarcone, whose tenure has been decidedly lackluster. Aside from the debacle with the subpoenas for AG James, Sarcone seems to have fabricated details<\/a> of an \u201cattack\u201d outside a hotel, leading reporters to discover<\/a> that his claimed residence was vacant and boarded up. Back in July, Sarcone told<\/a> reporters that the court had opted to retain him, prompting the judges to issue a press release<\/a> stating that they\u2019d done no such thing. Perhaps this is why Trump never even officially nominated Sarcone for the job \u2014 in fact, he never nominated anyone. In June, Sarcone told Law.com<\/a> that the president knew he\u2019d never get a US Attorney confirmed because of the blue slip rule, but would soon nominate Sarcone for a seat on the federal bench. This makes complete sense \u2026 if you have no idea how the blue slip rule works.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, after months of waiting for the executive branch to rouse itself from its torpor, the district judges exercised their statutory authority to appoint<\/a> Donald Kinsella, a highly competent practitioner with five decades of legal experience.<\/p>\n

At which point, the Justice Department lost its shit \u2026 again.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Judges don\u2019t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS<\/a> does. See Article II of our Constitution. You are fired, Donald Kinsella. https:\/\/t.co\/XUYRgaqG2T<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) February 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cJudges don\u2019t pick U.S. Attorneys, @POTUS does,\u201d DAG Blanche tweeted, announcing that he\u2019d fired Kinsella just five hours after his appointment. Of course, @POTUS has not<\/em> picked a US Attorney. And even if he had, he\u2019d still have to get that person confirmed by the Senate. <\/p>\n

Blanche is currently trying<\/a> to get the judges in New Jersey to anoint his 30-year-old chief of staff as US Attorney under \u00a7 546(d). But at this point, he\u2019d probably have better luck trying to bully Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley into ditching the blue slip rule.<\/p>\n

Oh, well, what\u2019s the worst that can happen at all those US Attorneys offices in three more years?<\/p>\n

\n

Liz Dye<\/a>\u00a0produces the Law and Chaos\u00a0Substack\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0You can subscribe by clicking the logo:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The post DOJ Flames Judiciary Over Impertinent Demand For Competent US Attorneys<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Justice Department\u2019s war with the judiciary over US Attorneys continues to escalate, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche gleefully pouring gas on the flames. This week\u2019s conflagration involves the Northern District of New York, which has been officially rudderless since January 8, when Judge Lorna Schofield disqualified John Sarcone, III as acting US Attorney. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":144026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/law-and-chaos-logo-liz-dye-300x153-9FYwRz.jpg?fit=300%2C153&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}